


Like A Fox

by klutzy34



Series: Foxy Danno [1]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Shifter Danny, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-14
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-05-01 15:25:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 53,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5210981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klutzy34/pseuds/klutzy34
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A year before Danny moved to Hawaii, an attack on a stakeout gone wrong left him with one hell of a secret: he's a werefox.</p><p>For six years, he managed to keep the secret from everyone until an attempt on Steve's life required him to shift and out himself to his partner and best friend. A series of ficlets about the Five-0 team and their Jersey werefox.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which Danny Is A Literal Fox

Shifting is a bastard. Danny Williams has known this for seven years now, ever since he was the unlucky one to catch a rabid feline meth head on a paranoid high back in Jersey. It doesn’t matter how many years, how many times, bones still break and reshape, shrink and expand, muscles tightening and twisting around them while fur pushes through the skin, fangs through gums, claws out of fingertips. He hates it with every fiber of his being and considers it the biggest reason why he challenges the nights of the full moon to do their worst and force out the animal beneath his skin because he refuses to submit willingly. He’ll stubbornly deny it the upper hand as long as he can. 

They’re also a secretive bunch, which he’s thankful for. He rarely meets others and when the stray scent consisting of both human and animal touches his sensitive sense of smell, he’s learned a few hundred ways to excuse himself or avoid. He’s fine on his own, he doesn’t need shifter friends or mentors to show him the lifestyle or risk outting him to friends and family. He should believe that they’ll accept him for who he is, but the anxiety that runs his mind in circles late at night while he tries to sleep always builds a worst case scenario when he thinks about telling someone. Each one act scene plays out in his mind, rejection, disgust, terror. He’s not really all that human anymore.

In his line of work, however, he’s learned that secrets always come back to bite the keeper in the ass. It’s never been more true for him then now as the suspect he and Steve pursued into the woods stops on the edge of the stream running past and turns to face them. If he’d ever considered shifting more than the bare minimum, he’d be a little jealous of the ease in which the weapons dealer turns from an intimidating man to an even more intimidating black bear, standing well above the two cops in front of him. The only sign that the shift bothers him is the tightening around his eyes and mouth before it’s lost to fur. Danny hears Steve swear loudly beside him and reflexively looks, seeing the SEAL’s wide eyes and dropped jaw, before the action costs him. With the swipe of a big paw, he’s sent crashing along before he comes to a sliding stop against a bush with a crunch of branches. Nearby, he hears an all too human ‘oomph’ as Steve finds an uncomfortable landing as well. 

And now his gun is gone. On his hands and knees, Danny quickly skims his hands over the ground as he moves while keeping the bear in his peripheral. He isn’t interested in Danny, doesn’t see him as the threat yet. Or maybe it’s the small stream of blood running down the side of Steve’s face where he slammed into a rock, piquing the bear’s bloodlust. His heart slams in his chest and he knows if he doesn’t do something soon, SEAL jerky is going to be on the menu, followed by a helping of Jersey bites. When it comes down to it, Steve alive is by far more important than the fallout that will follow this incident.

The one good thing about Danny’s animal form is that it doesn’t reduce his clothing to scraps if he needs to shift quickly. Once the kevlar vest is off and tossed to the side, he finds the animal under his skin curled up in the recesses of his mind and beckons it forward. His teeth grit as the changes take place, reminding himself that the less he fights, the quicker it will come and time is off the essence. Precious moments pass before he can wriggle loose from his shirt and pants to find Steve staring at him, back pressed against the rock as the bear continues to advance.

So now he has a real David and Goliath match up on his hands, black bear versus a gray fox. If he was a betting man watching this match up, he’d take the bear, but he’s not and Danny likes to think that he’s a hell of a lot smarter than this law-breaking putz. If the man was smart, he would have gotten a law-abiding job like the rest of them. The list of crimes on his rap sheet means Danny feels absolutely no guilt as he sinks his teeth into the bear’s heel. Roaring in pain, the bear drops down to four feet and kicks out the one Danny’s attached to, loosening him up enough to send him skidding again. So he’s managed to piss it off - an easy feat for Danny on any given day with most people - and it’s advancing on him. 

Which is right about when a rock bounces off the broad head and goes flying into the brush next to Danny. “Hey!” Steve, all stupid bravado, is back on his feet again, a thick branch in his hands like he’s going to knock this bear out to the cheap seats. It’d be admirable if not so ridiculous to picture. Still, it distracts the bear long enough that Danny can get to his feet, dart around the bear, and pounce from the ground, aiming it just right so as to lock his teeth on a very important artery in the bear’s neck. 

The next few minutes - or seconds, Danny can’t really tell because all he can think is don’t let go - blur past as his body swings in the air as the bear tries to dislodge him, swatting at his small body with large paws, shaking, roaring in anger. He knows he’s hit the right spot because he can feel something warm and sticky sliding over the fur on the bottom of his jaw, neck, and stomach, the taste of copper hitting his tongue and making the fox clamp down harder with the prospect of fresh meat. Slowly, the shaking begins to lessen until the bear drops drunkenly to all four feet again and staggers sideways. He’s so engaged in the hunt that he doesn’t let go in time and the heavy body not only drops on him, but pins him in the shallows of the stream nearby. 

His paws scrabble at the slimy rocks underneath the water as he tries to break through the surface for air. Despite the animal panic in his brain, the human offers up the morbid thought that maybe this is rectifying the wrong committed all those years ago when Billy died and Danny somehow escaped. His lungs are burning and he can’t focus enough to shift back past the panic, his vision beginning to dim in warning. This can’t be how it’s going to end.

He barely feels the dead weight lift off of him, the strong arms that wrap around him and pull him to the surface. His body hurts and it takes some coaxing before he can pull in air. With it comes the reassuring scent of ocean and soap that he’s come to associate with Steve. His body is wrapped in something soft and warm and the arms cradle him. “I’ve got you, buddy.” There’s no fear in Steve’s voice, no judgement, just concern. He hears the crunch of dead leaves under Steve’s boots, feels his movements as he heads back for the truck.

And through it all, Danny wants to tell him to put him down. It’s a carry over from being human. Yes, he knows he’s smaller than most, but that’s no excuse to pick him up. No one would go out into the wild and think they could pick up a fox, would they? However, if he ended up on his feet now, he’d probably end up a pile of fur and bushy tail anyway, so he makes a disgruntled noise but doesn’t push the issue. 

Steve pulls down the tailgate on his truck and sets Danny down, letting the fabric fall around him. Now that he can see better, he realizes that his partner has once more found a reason to divest himself of clothing and he’s left smears of blood (the bears, not his, he’s hoping) all over the pale gray fabric. Suddenly Steve’s fingers are sliding over his body, feeling along his legs and ribs, down his spine with the same dedicated laser focus he reserves for taking down suspects. Danny yips as his fingers skim his hips and brush a little too close to parts for comfort. “Relax. I’m making sure you didn’t break a hip, Danno,” Steve chides him in the same tone he uses when they bicker in the car. That alone makes Danny relax more than a reassurance. Those can be faked but a fall back to routine says acceptance is close. 

Once Steve finishes, he uses the shirt to dry Danny off before tossing it into a corner of the truck. Danny turns to hop off the tailgate when Steve suddenly slides an arm under his belly and lifts him up. “You and I are going to have a talk once you can make human words again,” he mutters as he pushes the tailgate back into place, “especially about your use of ‘animal’ when talking about my methods.” There’s a small smile on his face when Danny tilts his head up to glare at him, pale blue eyes narrowing and ears laying back. That only makes the smile grow on Steve’s face and he casually walks to the driver’s side door and swings in. While Danny expects to be deposited on the passenger’s side, he instead remains settled on Steve’s lap.

The truck starts and Steve backs it out of its spot, putting them back on the path to civilization. Once he can manage with one hand, his free one drops to stroke the fur on Danny’s chest and neck, the detective’s eyes sliding shut. His body still aches and he’s exhausted and damp, but he’s never felt this before and it feels like a little bit of heaven. He says as much with a quiet, rumbling growl in his chest. “You can relax,” Steve reassures him. “Once you’re up for it, we’ll figure out where we go from here.” Danny’s body stiffens up and Steve must be able to feel it because Steve swears. “No, babe, not about this. At least not you. Your secret is safe with me, I swear.”

So maybe he could have told him sooner, let one person help him carry the secret that weighed on his shoulders all these years. For someone so suddenly and violently introduced to this world, Steve is taking it in stride far better than he ever imagined. Danny rubs his head against Steve’s stomach and the stroking resumes. 

“You know, while you’re silent for once in your life, start thinking of how we’re going to explain our dead weapons-dealing black bear, all right?”


	2. In Which Steve Is A Snuggler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite the original intention for this verse to be a one shot, I couldn't quite leave it alone and decided to play a little more with the adventures of Steve and his werefox partner in crime. They'll be individual little stories, unless one needs two chapters or so. Otherwise, little pieces of life with these two, maybe others! 
> 
> The tense also changes from the first chapter as this one is more comfortable for me to write in!

Between Steve's gentle strokes between his ears and down his neck and the light purr of the Silverado's engines, it was easy enough for Danny to let the exhaustion win the battle. He didn't make a habit of falling asleep in fox form but everything ached and with shifting bringing more soreness of its own, he was in no rush to shift back until the morning at the very earliest. Luckily for him, Steve didn't seem too perturbed by a fox snoozing on his lap as he drove. If anything, he seemed more relaxed as well. 

 

He was so exhausted that he didn't feel when the truck stopped or hear it when the engine went silent, didn't notice when those same strong arms scooped him up and carried him across the yard to the house, placing him on the mat inside. It wasn't until he felt the light shake become a little firmer and Steve's voice close by, urging him to wake up, that he blearily opened an eye to find his partner kneeling on the ground, leaning in close. "Rise and shine, Danno. If you're going to stay like this tonight, you need a bath." Steve smiled crookedly at him. "You smell, Foxy." 

 

Danny lifted his head from the welcome mat and quietly growled at him in annoyance, then once again melted into the soft scratching behind his ear. _Damn it, Steven._ He'd never been pet before and now he was practically putty in Steve's hands because it felt _so damn good._ Part of him wanted to flop over on his back and urge him to have a go at his stomach, but he quickly shoved that notion aside. Despite his current form, he was not an animal (mostly) and he would not give the other man anything else to give him shit about. 

 

He let out a sharp yip as Steve suddenly scooped him up and tucked him under one arm. His body settled stiff while he was asleep and now he felt it in (slight exaggerated) every muscle. Still, he didn't appreciate being carried around like a piece of luggage, but Steve paid no mind as he carried him into the bathroom. Setting him in the bathtub, he turned the water on, testing the temperature until it ran warm. 

 

The belly scratches turned out to be better than the ears, leaving Danny to lean into the side of the tub as Steve's fingers worked over every inch of fur to scrub the blood out. His eyes fluttered shut, ears laying back in contentment. "I bet no one ever does this for you, do they, buddy?" Steve asked softly, brushing a thumb under his chin. Danny's eyes opened to see Steve looking down at him with a sad smile. That he didn't understand. Was it that obvious that no one had ever shown Danny affection in this form? "A fox though. I can see it. An underestimated, sneaky little canine. Just like you." Cupping his hands, he lifted water to rinse the shampoo from Danny's fur and then scooped him up again. Once he was human again, they had to have a talk about proper handling procedure. Later, when being carried around didn't feel better than staggering around, sore. 

 

Steve set him on a towel and then proceeded to scrub his fur dry. When he leaned forward far enough, Danny rest his head against his neck, rubbing against him. So sue him, it was an animal behavior, but he liked the idea of others knowing this was his human. With a soft laugh, Steve gently stroked down his neck. Danny's tail moved lazily on the ground, him feeling surprisingly content despite the night's events and his current shape. 

 

Once he was dry, the SEAL left him on his bed and disappeared into the bathroom again with clean clothes. With the sound of the shower running in the background, Danny yawned widely and then curled up in a ball at the end of the bed. When he woke up, he would try shifting back again. For right now, he was safe and in the presence of someone who knew. That was enough for the time being and really, he was too exhausted to care about much of anything else.

 

It wasn't long before Steve's freshly showered scent danced under his nose and he felt the bed sink down on the other side. Then he felt an arm hook around his middle and gently drag him over. His body ended up pressed against Steve's and he shifted just enough to bury his head against Steve's stomach, body curling tighter. Steve's arm remained around him. "We're still going to have that talk later but...I get it. I do. No judgment. I just have questions." The last word was interrupted by a yawn. "When I can think straight." Danny grumbled against his stomach. _Shut up, Steve. I'm trying to sleep here._ Steve snorted, giving him one last rub between the ears before his arm settled over him again.

 

Within minutes, man and fox were fast asleep.


	3. In Which Danny Explains and Steve Makes Too Many Pancakes

When Danny woke up, the bed was empty and the sun was just starting to filter in through the window. With a wide yawn, he stretched his front and back legs, feeling the stiffness pulling through his muscles. Shifting back had been put off too long and he didn’t want to spend anymore time in that form than he had to, which meant he had to suck it up and just deal with whatever pain came with it.

Rolling onto his back, he closed his eyes and focused on each part of his body, letting the bones and muscles shift and change, gritting his teeth against the discomfort. When the shifting finally stopped and he was back to his human self, he curled up on his side to catch his breath. At the end of the bed, his clothing from the night before sat folded up in a pile. When Steve grabbed those, he couldn’t remember, but he wasn’t about to question it either when he didn’t feel like walking around nude. Shameless was a choice, not a shifter trait. 

Once he’d gotten his boxers and pants back on, he stumbled into bathroom to check himself in the mirror. How he felt matched how he looked, bruises peppering his body. Another shifter rumor debunked: they didn’t heal that much faster than their fully human counterparts. Tugging his shirt on, he shuffled out of the room and down the stairs, not bothering to button it up. 

The scent of coffee and breakfast caught his attention before he’d even made it halfway down the stairs. He followed it to the kitchen where the coffee pot brewed away while Steve busied himself at the stove, a massive stack of pancakes on a plate by his elbow. His hair was damp and stuck up at angles and he was still wearing the board shorts for his swims and a light hoodie. Steve’s attention was on the laptop nearby as he flipped another couple of pancakes over. The sound of Danny pouring himself a cup off coffee snapped him out of whatever he was engrossed in. “You look like hell.”

Danny settled in a chair, hands encircling the mug. “I feel like hell,” he muttered, taking a sip of coffee and closing his eyes. If he focused, he could pick out the individual breakfast scents. Pancakes, eggs, bacon. A lot of greasy...turkey bacon. Healthier than bacon bacon, no doubt. As long as he wasn’t trying to feed him tofu, he’d survive.

The sound of a plate being set down made him open his eyes again, the heavenly sight of a plate packed full in front of him. “Is that all right? There isn’t a care manual out there for a shifter, so I took a guess at what might be true. The body changing like it does, the need for more calories to burn seems legitimate,” Steve said as he sat across from him with his own plate, less packed than Danny’s own. 

“I do eat a lot,” Danny grunted, stabbing his fork into the eggs and stuffing the huge amount into his mouth. It was a few forkfuls later before he realized that Steve was still watching him, the food on his plate barely touched. “If you don’t eat that before I’m done, I’m going to finish it off,” he added, pointing with his fork. 

Shrugging, Steve settled back in his seat, his own cup cradled in his hands. “I can make more.” He chewed on his lip, clearly holding something back. Most likely a lot of something. Sighing, Danny set down his fork and waved to him. 

“Come on. Let’s hear it.”

“After you e-”

“No, come on. You look like a child who just got their chance to talk to Santa for the first time. Let’s hear it.”

“Have you always been a shifter? Why a fox?” Steve leaned forward again, eager. This was the exact opposite reaction of what Danny expected. Of all the scenarios he’d imagined, excitement had never once occurred to him. He fiddled with a piece of bacon as an outlet for the sudden surge of awkward energy. 

“No, I have not. About seven years ago, I was on a stakeout. We saw the person of interest, went in...he’d shifted into some kind of small feline thing and attacked me from behind. Just about tore out my throat. He got away while I ended up in the hospital. Spent a few days with a nasty fever, then it just broke. I went home, didn’t think about it until a month later when I turned into a fuzzy little asshole on the full moon,” he explained quietly. “I don’t know why a fox. I don’t spend time with other shifters, I don’t ask questions. I turn on the full moon when I have to and that’s it.”

“Except last night,” Steve pointed out softly, expression becoming sympathetic, “when you shifted to save me.” He hesitated. “Does it hurt?”

Danny snorted at that. “Okay, is there any way that could not hurt? The movies are full of shit. Bones change, muscles change. There is no possible way it could not hurt unless you lose every nerve ending in your body because that is not something a human being was ever meant to do.” He waved his hands to the left. “Humans.” His hands moved to the right. “Animals. There should be no middle.” 

Steve’s mouth quirked up and he quickly rubbed his hand over it, trying to conceal the amusement. He wasn’t fast enough. “What?” Danny demanded.

“I was just thinking about the whole speech you gave me about jackals and hyenas and rules when we first met,” he replied. “And the whole time you’re yelling at me about this, you’re turning into a legitimate animal. Not to mention ‘neanderthal animal’.” 

Danny’s eyes narrowed and he pointed the fork at him. “Even as a fox, I’m less of an animal than you. I respect the doors of O’ahu when time is not of the essence and lives are not in danger. I do not throw people into shark tanks or dangle them off buildings or - “

“Tie them to the front of your car?” Steve suggested helpfully. The fox was close enough to the surface, just under Danny’s skin, that biting him was starting to sound better and better. Just to wipe the smirk off his face at least. 

“You shut up.” He stabbed at the eggs again, dropped them onto the topmost pancake, threw on a few pieces of bacon, then rolled it into a makeshift burrito and took large bite, washing it down with a swig of coffee. Steve continued to watch him in fascination, much to Danny’s disgruntlement.

“Does Grace know?” Headshake. “Rachel?” Another headshake and a brow furrow on Steve’s part. “Parents? Siblings?” Two more headshakes. “Am I the only one that knows?” Off Danny’s nod, Steve’s expression softened. “You’ve been carrying that alone for seven years?” Danny glared at him across the table, cheek puffed out with food. 

“I chose too, Steven. Wipe that pitying look off your face. I. Chose. Too. The last thing I needed was people pulling away because they didn’t want to associate with a freak of nature or some top secret science project kidnapping me to run tests or something equally offputting. I prefer to just ignore it until I have to deal with it,” Danny muttered quietly, running a hand through his wild hair. 

“ _Danny_.” His partner leaned forward on the table, pushing his plate aside. “Come on, it’s cool! You turn into a literal animal! That is amazing. Is there something else that comes with it? Can you heal faster, hear better?” 

Busying himself with making another breakfast burrito out of the ingredients on his plate distracted him enough while discussing his least favorite topic. “No, I cannot heal faster, hence the bruises and feeling like I was hit by a semi. I can hear better, smell better, see better. Yes, I have to eat more, hence all the time I spend eating, so you can shut up about that now that you know. I’m a little stronger and faster than the average human, though not as much as the movies would lead you to believe. Still, it’s enough to put arrogant Naval officers on their asses.” 

Frowning, Steve worked his jaw. “I knew that punch had a little something more than the usual,” he muttered. It was Danny’s turn to grin as he chewed. “Still! Think about it, Danno. The better senses? Those have to help a lot in the field, right? So it can’t be all that bad.” 

“Did you miss the part where I have to turn into a fox on the full moon? Against my will?” 

“It sounds like a small price to pay for what you can pick up the rest of the month with those senses.” And Steve’s expression was dead serious, which almost made Danny feel like an ass for complaining. He did take advantage of those senses in the field, at crime scenes, anything that would help them get justice for the wrong, protect people. 

“I hate you,” he grunted, rolling up another pancake. 

“No, you don’t, Foxy,” Steve replied cheerfully, then pulled his plate back in front of him. As he picked up his fork again, he hesitated. “You know, if you don’t have any place to go on the full moons, you can always come here. I have a backyard you can safely run around in, TV to watch, company...” He trailed off awkwardly. “You know. If you want to.”

Danny almost turned him down immediately, but pulled up short. Steve had already seen him shift, seen him as the fox, and he’d taken it all in stride. It beat turning on the TV and curling up alone on the couch all night. He shrugged a shoulder. “I’ll think about it.” And just like that, the smile returned to Steve’s face. 

“Good. Now eat. I might have overdone it with the pancakes. We might be making deliveries to the neighbors if you don’t eat them.”


	4. In Which Danny Gets Stuck And Steve Helps. Kind Of.

They argued. Arguing was a thing they did. Given the amount of time spent behind the wheel of the Camaro, that part of the day became reserved for the back and forth of figuring out life’s problems, unloading, and generally discussing the ways of the world and disagreeing. It was a fact of life Steve came to unconsciously rely on as much as his lungs needing air or his body needing food to perform at top condition. Their arguments were sometimes a little sharp edged but they knew what the other could take, wouldn’t take personally, and really, it was more of a sparring anyway. Danny always said Steve needed to use his words more and with that practice came an ease of use. 

So when Danny snapped at him after leaving a particularly gruesome crime scene and the argument turned into a full blown fight that left them not speaking to each other when they reached the Palace, it didn’t sit right with Steve. Danny, in a whirlwind of small, blond fury, made sure that he had his share of the work done for the afternoon before he left without a word, leaving Steve sulking in his office and Chin and Kono exchanging subtle concerned glances over the table out in the main office. 

After reading the seventh sentence on the monthly financial report for Five-0 for a tenth time, Steve swept it back into the file and tossed it back into the inbox, running his hands over his face and blowing out a breath of annoyance. It felt _wrong_ for him to be at odds with any member of his team and as much as he replayed the conversation in his head, he couldn’t figure out what made it escalate so quickly. He’d taken a jab at Danny’s reliance on “dad jokes” and the explosion that followed rivaled the grenade he kept in the glove box. 

As he leaned forward, his gaze swept idly over the Word-A-Day calendar he’d received from his Secret Santa last year during the office gift exchange. With such a small team, they always knew who got who, but it was merely a way of lightening the atmosphere and always was good for a laugh or two. On a hunch, he reached out and flipped up the page for the next day, though it wasn’t the word he was interested in. Instead, it was the tiny circle at the bottom, indicating a full moon. Steve closed his eyes and tilted his head back.

In the few months since discovering his partner’s little secret, Steve became well versed in the intricacies of having a shifter for a best friend. The day or two leading up to the full moon were the worst, the animal underneath the skin pushing to get out, instincts vying against the human ones in anticipation of the freedom. For someone like Danny who only shifted when absolutely necessary, Steve imagined the build up was probably the worst it could be, evidenced again and again by his partner’s on-edge nature on those days. This month, with Five-0 run ragged, he’d completely lost track. It still didn’t entirely excuse things, but it made them a little more understandable. 

Grabbing his keys, he flicked the light off in his office and strode out into the main office with a mission in mind. Kono and Chin had long left to go to their respective homes and his footsteps were unnaturally loud to his ears as he left, locking up behind him, and headed out to his truck. One quick stop along the way at a market later, he pulled into the driveway beside the black Camaro and climbed out. There was no use in sneaking along, not with his partner’s hearing, so he took that as a reason to not bother knocking either. It wasn’t like Danny learned to do so when he came over. It was just another thing they did. 

The house was bathed in darkness, except for the TV against the far wall, two players from opposing teams duking it out on the ice for no reason. Danny was curled up in the armchair off to the right, blanket pulled over his head, bare feet resting up on the arm while he reclined into the corner. When the door shut behind Steve, he heard a soft growl come from beneath the blanket. “Steve, go home. We’re good, all right? I’m sorry I snapped at you, that was all on me, and you have a right to be angry but go do it at home. I’ll see you in the morning.” And at the end, he heard a soft “maybe” that most likely wasn’t for his ears. He wasn’t a shifter but his hearing was still in top shape.

Setting the Longboards and the plastic bag in on the kitchen counter, he returned and flopped down on the end of the couch, one long leg thrown out across the cushions while the other rest on the ground, an arm along the back of the sofa. Danny didn’t move from his spot, even seeming to draw the blanket tighter around himself while Steve watched. After several minutes spent in silence, he could swear he saw his shoulders hunching more and more under the fabric. “Okay, you made your point. I’m fine, Steven. Go home.” The sharpness of his words were dulled slightly by a slight slurring edge to the words. 

“Come on, Danny. I know the full moon is tomorrow and you’re on edge. Let’s bury the hatchet over a couple of steaks and a beer or two. Then I’ll leave you be,” Steve said quietly. Silently, with his “ninja grace” as Danny often called it, he got up from his spot and reached out to grab the blanket where he thought the back of Danny’s head would be. “You know how I get when I’ve got an objective in mind, babe. I won’t - “ The blanket slipped out of his grasp as Danny tugged it tighter around his body, leaving Steve to stand there with his empty hand stupidly outstretched and nothing in it. 

Steve’s hands rose, pointer fingers stretched upwards, a silent ‘I got this’ as he spun around and headed into the kitchen. A few minutes later, he emerged onto Danny’s lanai with an arm full spices and the two steaks in hand, flipping up the top on his grill and setting it to the optimum temperature. Cooking steaks was a perfected science for Steven J. McGarrett and he took pride in watching carefully, flipping each one until they were perfectly medium rare, then sliding each onto a plate with silverware and returning to the living room. One plate and beer went at Danny’s end of the coffee table while he flopped down on his end of the couch again, plate resting in his lap as he took a sip of beer. “Islanders, huh? Shoulda known.” 

The intentional bait was taken a moment later. “Watch your mouth, McGarrett,” Danny mumbled, hand snaking out from underneath the blanket finally to snag the plate. The scent of meat nearby was probably torture for him to resist. Steve’s brow furrowed slightly as the faint light from screen illuminated Danny’s hand. 

“...Danno, do you have claws?” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, slightly muffled by the steak in his mouth. Danny’s hand snapped back under the blanket, leaving the plate abandoned, and Steve winced. Not the best move. Putting his own plate down, he got up from the couch and moved around the table, slowly approaching from the side. 

Danny sighed. “Steve, can’t you just leave it alone?” Shifting Danny’s plate and bottle back, Steve sunk down on the edge of the coffee table and rest a hand on his knee.

“Not when something’s bothering you. What’s going on, Danny?” He kept his voice soft, understanding. He had no idea what it was like to be a shifter, what Danny had to deal with because of it, but he knew Danny and that was enough that he could accept what he’d seen, what he still saw, with an easy kind of grace because fox or man, he knew the mind of both and trusted and loved him without question. 

The blanket hood didn’t come down, but the quiet sigh was a sign that he was breaking through that wall. “I just... _overreacted._ I couldn’t help it, it was like I’ve got fire ants crawling under my skin, okay? And they don’t burn but there’s this itch and you can’t scratch it. It’s a fur itch.” 

The corner of Steve’s mouth quirked up slightly. “Furry fire ants?” he asked, squeezing Danny’s knee. 

“You, Steven, are not funny. As I was saying, that itch was there and I refused, I absolutely _refused_ because it would not rule me, and it...it kind of pushed itself out. Partly.” 

A few possible scenarios painted themselves into images into Steve’s mind, including the possibility of Danny having a tail. Before he could stop himself, his gaze dropped down to where he presumed his rear end to be, then quickly shot up, eyes a little wider. No hint of a tail but if Danny had chosen that moment to turn, he was sure it would have looked more like Steve taking advantage of the moment to check out his ass. 

Seconds ticked by before Danny’s hands finally came out from beneath the blanket and, yes, they were clawed. Then he slowly pulled the blanket back from his face and 

Steve’s eyes widened. He didn’t need the full living room light to see what Danny meant by the itch under his skin “pushing out partly.” The tip of his ears had sharpened visibly, well on their way to becoming a fox’s ears, but stayed where human ears should be, creating a slightly elfin look. (Not that Steve was even brave enough to call Danny an ‘elf’. That risk wasn’t even fun.) His eyes had shifted hues to an eerie blue that reflected the light from the TV, iris outlined in black, shape animal in nature. 

“Danny, it doesn’t look that bad. It looks kind of neat actually.” The last he hadn’t meant to say, but it did achieve what he was hoping he’d be able to.

Danny whipped around to give him a look. “Doesn’t look that bad? I’m the freaking wolfman’s tiny cousin, Steven. Not, may I remind you, by any choice of mine! I’ve been trying to put the claws back in their pockets but guess what, they don’t create a yoga DVD for that. Yes, I checked before I grew frustrated with trying to type like this.” His hands stopped whipping through the air to wiggle his claws - well, long fingernails more accurately. The action was so Danny-like that Steve covered his mouth with a hand, trying to hide his amusement. Unfortunately, a guffaw still slipped the leash and he froze. Danny bared an impressive set of sharp canines at him. “You think this is - oh, you are - “

Steve wasn’t sure what order things happened in next; Danny tackling him, the laughter bursting out of Steve, the two of them rolling around on the ground and wrestling like a couple of territorial cats, if one cat found the whole situation hilarious. Finally, Danny managed to pin Steve on the ground, hands around his wrists while he settled low on his waist, leaning down face to face with him. As accepting as he was of the whole thing, those eyes did unnerve him a little, looking alien on his partner’s face.

Then Danny dipped his face down, nuzzling his nose against Steve’s jaw. Steve felt the strange vibration in Danny’s chest, pressed against his body, and realized, startled, that the detective was purring. He froze, not sure what to do next. Danny, meanwhile, continued to nuzzle against him, releasing his wrists and sinking down, butting his head underneath Steve’s chin. The actions were so canine in nature that he had a hard time connecting them with the verbose Jersey detective.

“You smell...” Danny trailed off and slowly pulled away from Steve. The commercial on TV bathed the room and Danny in a little more light, tracing ear tips that were rounded again and blue eyes with a quizzical look. “I don’t know how to describe why, but you smell like home. _Safe_. Calm.” His fingers ran over his face before he favored Steve with a big grin, flashing fully human teeth. “Which is absolutely ridiculous since calm and safe are two words that don’t even crack the top one hundred when describing you.”

Steve spread his hands out. “Really? I bring you much needed zen and that’s the thanks I get?” Danny rose to his feet and held a hand out for Steve, tugging him to his feet. 

“Who said you were responsible? Maybe you just smelled so much, the fox couldn’t handle it and beat a retreat. How about that, huh?” Eagerly, Danny scooped up his plate and silverware and flopped back in the chair, balancing the plate on his crossed legs before tucking in.

“For that? I hope the Islanders lose,” Steve replied pointedly, snatching up his own plate and flopping back down. 

“That’s just rude, McGarrett. In this house, you respect the teams. Rule number twenty four.”

“I thought don’t jump off the garage onto your neighbor was rule number twenty four.”

“No. Seventy four. I had to make that for tall goofballs who think they’re cats and middle aged men with a hose handle in their pockets are shifty and up to no good.” 

Steve stabbed at his steak, sinking down a little further. “I said I was sorry.” Once he had a piece of steak in his mouth, he had to ask, “I smell like home? Meaning that you’ve finally accepted Hawaii as your true home?” It took effort to duck the blanket tossed his way without spilling both his steak and beer on the floor but with true SEAL skill, he managed.

“Home has many meanings, my friend, most of which are not in the dictionary. Friends and family, the people you belong to, are as much a home as four walls and land beneath your feet. Do not mistake my love for my ohana as love for this island.” 

“...well, you did just say oh-”

“I swear that I will eat your boots on a full moon if you don’t shut up and watch the game.”


	5. In Which Danny Discovers A Ticklish Spot

He never hated the full moon more than the day it fell on Christmas. As he dropped Grace and Charlie off that afternoon, he felt the swell of bitterness as the door to the Edwards household shut and he slowly pulled from the driveway and out onto the main street. Alone. He’d had to turn down invitations from Chin, Kono, and Lou, citing that he had the kids until later that evening and then Rachel’s parents insisted on seeing him since they were in town. They weren’t but it made for a good excuse. No one questioned familial obligations. 

The house felt so empty. With a quiet sigh, he locked the door behind him and went to work cleaning up the whirlwind mess from presents and breakfast, the dishes piled on the sink, empty boxes stacked by a helpful Grace. One of Charlie’s socks lay under the coffee table and he smiled briefly as he picked it up and set it next to the door to return later. His hand hovered over the switch to turn the lights off, then pulled away. He had to spend Christmas alone but forcing himself to deal with a dark house on top of it was only punishing him.

His phone started to buzz while he finished drying dishes. One text from Steve.

_U coming over?_

He considered it for a moment before tapping out a short response.

_stay at Chin’s. i’m good_

_already left. just family. felt awkward._

_you are family._

_you know what I mean. come over._

Danny stared at the last text for a moment before he tapped out his reply and set the phone down. His motions were slower as he finished drying the last pot and tucked it away. Then he headed into his bedroom, grabbing a bag and putting in a change of clothes, things for a shower. 

\----------

Not long after Danny shifted, he slowly padded into the living room, head down and tail drooping. He hesitated when he found it empty, ears perking. The last he’d seen Steve, he’d been reclined on the couch, watching yet another hour of the Christmas Story. Now the TV was off, the bottles and plates cleaned away. 

He hadn’t heard a single noise from the man and with his heightened hearing, that was seriously disturbing. The level of ninjary (and yes, that was a word) that it took to sneak away from a shifter eclipsed his usual. Danny huffed under his breath and turned to head back to the bedroom when two hands scooped him up off the ground. 

It didn’t take long for Danny to settle in against Steve’s shoulder, paws dangling over. The SEAL quietly headed into the kitchen, changing one hand to rest under Danny’s rump while he continued putting the clean dishes away. Danny buried his head against the side of his neck, sniffing around until a few light curls in desperate need of a trim brushed his nose and elicited a sneeze. 

And Steve laughed, his shoulder jumping up.

All right, this was interesting. Danny’s tail idly brushed back and forth as he plotted on how to use this information about a ticklish spot. The stoic Naval man that he was, he’d denied existence of one and now Danny knew that was a lie. He was going to learn that was a mistake.

“Don’t you even think about it, Williams,” Steve threatened. 

_Don’t? You know better than to say that, Steven. I say ‘don't' and you go running into it. I feel as if I earned this one. Joyfully._

He huffed another breath across the back of Steve’s neck and he heard a badly concealed snort. “ _Daniel._ I will drop -”

Danny’s answer came as a yip and he dove back in, snuffling against Steve’s neck. His grip tightened on Danny as Steve started laughing. “ _Stop!_ ” he yelped between laughs, finally pulling him away from his neck. “You’re an ass, Foxy,” Steve chided him, the effect lessened by the remaining laughter and the glint in his eyes. “You better keep that a secret or I will get my revenge.”

Danny really wished his dismissive laugh didn’t sound so much like coughing up a hairball.


	6. In Which Danny Understands Canine

In life, Damien Costello took care of his kids, made his wife a happy woman, provided as best he could, enough that the family lived comfortably on the island. Of course, scratching the surface of that idyllic picture revealed a man who got in deep with all the wrong kinds of people trying to recoup ground on his nasty gambling habit, which landed him deeper into debt and even moreso on the wrong end of things. Finally, someone decided to cut their losses and put a bullet between his eyes before he got in deeper. 

But one still remained loyal to him - though that wasn’t fair to the wife and kids, they didn’t know yet - and currently stood guard over his body. Misty the full grown Pitbull bared her teeth at HPD and Five-0 alike, even going as far as putting one Commander Steven J. McGarrett up a nearby tree like the human cat he was and sending Officer Pua all the way back to his car. Danny missed all of it as he swept the inside of the house with Lou, but the barking, snarling, and yelling from the backyard drew them out as soon as they were done. On the way out, his hand swept over the placard by the lanai door, taking the pink leash with him as he stepped out onto the lanai.

Satisfied the humans would be keeping their distance now, Misty retreated and laid down next to her human, resting her head on his stomach. Those weren’t the actions of an out of control, vicious animal, they were one of an animal protecting its own and Danny’s heart broke for her. He’d been a dog guy well before fate turned him into a member of the canine species on the full moon and he still was despite it all. 

“Hold up,” Danny called, jogging over to the two men off to the side, prepping a tranq gun for use. “Just...let me, okay?” Turning back to Grover, hot on his heels, he draped the leash over the taller man’s shoulder and then pulled off his tac gloves. “Here.” When Grover started to most likely ask if he looked like a hat rack, Danny shoved them in his hands and then stripped out of his vest.

“What are you doing?” Grover demanded, taking the vest in surprise before he could protest again. 

“The dog is hurting. She’s feeling threatened. It’s like talking someone down, only a different species,” Danny muttered as he took the leash back and tucked it over his own shoulder. It wasn’t his years of dog companionship that told him that, but the tone of the pitiful whimpers the pitbull continued to make. While they didn’t make sense to him as _words_ , Danny’s mind now translated it in a different way that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He understood Misty in a way a human probably shouldn’t, not even the famed Dog Whisperer. The fox under his skin was good for something once in a while.

He approached slowly, his hand held out in front of him where Misty could see it. To his side, he heard the branch creak as Steve shifted, obviously not thrilled with Danny’s ‘crazy’ plan. He could stuff his protests with all the crazy plans he’d put into action without consultation. The closer he stepped, he could see the muscles tensing in Misty’s body. 

“Whoa there, girl,” he murmured, pitching his voice low. “I’m not going to hurt you or your human, okay?” She continued to watch him, still poised to pounce. Danny stilled and crouched down, hand still held out. “You smell that? I’m like you sometimes. Well, not entirely like you as you are a magnificent four-footed beast, my dear, but I sometimes have fur and sharp teeth and enjoy a good roll in the grass. Don’t tell anyone. It’s a guilty pleasure.” The entire time he spoke, he kept his voice low, calm. 

When Misty refused to move, he blew out a breath and then casually checked over his shoulder. The only one close enough to possibly hear was Steve up in the tree and he knew already. The rest watched him from a safe distance, a few officers with guns out and ready in case the dog decided to lunge. She wouldn’t. Of that, Danny had faith. Turning back to her, he tapped into the part of his brain that shared space with his canine side, making a quiet yipping sound. Misty’s ears perked up and her head rose from the body. He hadn’t expected that to work, but score one for his condition.

Hand still extending, he slowly moved forward, still where she could see and get used to him first. He made the sound again and this time Misty rose to her feet and cautiously stepped over Damien’s body. She looked at her human longingly, then stepped towards Danny, her head running over his hand and then she pressed into Danny, burying her head against his stomach. She curled her body to him, knocking him off his feet and onto his rear. Under his fingers, he could feel her body trembling and he stroked softly down the length of her back. “Shhhh. I’m sorry, girl. I know you loved him,” he murmured, wrapping his other arm around her neck and holding her close.

Behind him, someone murmured, “I’ll be damned.” He heard the soft thump of feet hitting the ground and before Misty could spoke, he clipped the leash to her collar and turned his head to place a light kiss on the top of her head. 

“Trust me, okay? Us canines stick together,” he whispered to her before climbing to his feet. The dog climbed to hers, still looking back at her human’s body until Danny gave her a gentle tug, then she turned to follow him, her head hanging low. 

“You know,” Steve muttered as he fell into step beside Danny. Misty didn’t even bark at him, a clue to the poor dog’s state of mind now that she had no one to guard. “They’re going to start calling you the ‘Dog Whisperer’.”

Danny shrugged. “Maybe there was a reason for the canine blood after all,” he replied. “Tell forensics they can have the scene now. I’m going to go find her kids for her.”


	7. In Which Kono Needs A Hug

“This was a horrible idea. No, worse than that, the _worst_ idea that I have ever had - that you helped me have - and this can end no way other than badly,” Danny stated, pacing the lanai while Steve stared at the burgers on the grill, eyeing one critically and poking it with a spatula. “It needs to be flipped, Steven. This isn’t science class and the cow has already been dissected. Quit treating it like a science,” he added, stopping beside the grill. 

“Focusing on the burger is helping me tune _you_ out,” Steve pointed out, giving Danny a passing glance before he turned the burger of intense examination and turned his focus on the neighbor. “Look, you came to me and said, ‘I want to come out.’ So I am helping you come out to the rest of the team with burgers. They’re your family, Danno, and they’re going to accept it like I did.” He shoved the spatula under a grilled pineapple ring and waved it in Danny’s face. “Do you want to try this and tell me if it’s done?”

Danny could only imagine Steve achieved his desired objective with that move, but between giving him the victory and having pineapple shoved in his face, he’d take giving him the victory this one time. He retreated back to the other side of the lanai, staring out at the ocean lapping softly ashore before he threw out his hands. “How do you tell people that you’re a freak, huh? That the moon rises far above,” he motioned dramatically to the sky with his arms, “and _floof_! Floof happens, Steven. How do I explain that to them, huh? Do you know what wereanything is categorized as? Monster. Because a human being should never be able to shift into an animal, especially not one of a different species entirely!” 

Steve frowned, his cheek slightly pooched out with pineapple. “So what does that make me?” 

“An ape. An angry, angry ape.”

“First of all, that sounds like a game that involves marbles and two, angry? Pot, kettle, black.” 

Danny scowled, running his hand over his face. “That is not my point. Do you know what happens if this goes badly? I have to leave the team - no, I have to leave the island - because I will never be able to look them in the face again,” he said, holding up his hands, palms out. “Or be able to see the looks they give me.” The last words came out softly and he dug his hands into his pockets, bare toes wiggling on the stones as he stared down at them. Steve’s expression softened and he set the spatula quietly aside, walking over to gather up his partner in his arms. 

“Danny, the only thing I can see them being negative about is that you took so long to tell us about it. But they’ll understand that too. I did.” Danny closed his eyes, resting his head against Steve’s chest. There were a few full moons already that he fell asleep like this, listening to the heartbeat in the chest beneath the thin fabric. It was soothing and the crashing waves of anxiety started to roll a little less tumultuous. “I realized that if it was myself in your position...I would have done the same thing because I would be scared of how people treat me. But I believe in them and you should too. We’re _ohana_ , Danny.” Steve’s arms tightened briefly around him. 

“I don’t want to lose one of the few good things in my life,” Danny said softly. He got lucky once, Steve accepting him without a hesitation, just like he conquered most of the other curveballs in his life. But Danny Williams, he was not a lucky man. He was a man the world left behind given half a chance, even when he screamed himself hoarse, and chose every opportunity to kick him when he was down. He was someone who loved passionately and hurt badly, wore his heart on his sleeve and showed the cracks to those who bothered to stick around long enough to get more than his name. 

“And you’re not going to, Danny. Trust me. Trust _them_.” Steve’s cheek came to rest on the top of his head for too brief a moment before he released him. “Go grab some plates and set the table. They should be here soon, okay?” He gave him a light smack on the arm, mustering up a reassuring grin. Danny couldn’t do as much, the smile falling into a flat look, concern in his eyes, but he shuffled back into the house, heading for the kitchen.

\----------

“ - so then she tells me to go look on the side of the house and I do. Lo and behold, his high self is hanging off the trellis upside down and he puts a finger to his lips and goes, ‘shhhh, I’m Spiderman.’” Lou’s story earned a round of laughter from the four other bodies surrounding the table. The sun had gone down while they ate and spoke, laughed and traded amicable jabs. Most of them anyway. Kono managed a smile here and there, but Danny didn’t miss her fork lightly jabbing at the food on her plate, mostly untouched. 

Danny’s knee nudged her under the table and she looked up at him, giving him a weak smile. “Sorry,” she said, leaning back in her seat, “my mind is just...always there when it’s not work.” His heart went out to her. Something was wrong in the goddamn universe when Adam and Kono went through so much on the way to the altar and still couldn’t get a happy ending, not even after the hard work. 

“I think we all understand. We’re just happy we could get you to come out for a few hours, babe,” he replied. She’d begged out of the last few beers after work and while she said she refused to be one of those women who couldn’t operate without her man, her husband was incarcerated with plenty of people who might want him dead for the next 18 months. She deserved to be able to worry and they would do the best they could to provide a shoulder to lean on. If it wasn’t for the lack of time in their lives to devote to an animal, he would have suggested a pet...

He reached over to squeeze her hand as a lightbulb went on his head. “I, uh, yeah...okay,” he muttered awkwardly. “So,” he stated loudly, earning attention around the table, “I, uh, well we decided to have this cookout tonight because there was something I needed to tell you. I’m, uh...” Now that they were all looking at him, expressions ranging from supportive from Steve to concerned from Chin, he felt his resolution start to backslide. 

“ _Iturnintoafoxonthefullmoons!_ ” he blurted out, sinking a little lower in his seat. Silence followed the rushed statement, then a soft laugh from Grover.

“That’s...no, I’m not getting it,” he said, expression falling again. “Did I miss something?”

“No,” Chin said slowly, brow furrowing. “If you are, then so am I.”

“Three,” Kono added, lifting a hand and giving Danny a funny look. 

“No, no one is missing anything, okay? Six years ago, I was attacked and now on full moons, I turn into a gray fox. Well, it’s more brown and yellowish with gray but that’s beside the point,” he said, waving his hands in the air. “The point that I’m getting to here is that I do and as a member of this team, I felt that I should be honest about that.” Panic set his heart a flutter and he wanted nothing more than to get up and walk into the house with as much dignity as he had left. 

“So...we’re being serious here?” Grover asked. Danny chanced looking up and there was nothing on the man’s face except confusion.

“Absolutely serious. I’ve, uh, seen it myself,” Steve admitted. “Well, twice. One when our weapons dealer a few months ago turned into a black bear to kill me. The second was Danny shifting into a fox to save me.” He reached over to clap Danny on the shoulder and squeezing. “It’s not fun for him, but - “

“I’ll do it.” Danny scrambled from his chair, surprising even Steve. 

“Danno, are you s - “

“Yeah. I’m absolutely sure.” As quickly as he could, he disappeared into the house again, jogging up the stairs to Steve’s bedroom. Closing the door as much as he could without shutting it, he stripped out of his shirt and pants, tossing them on the end of the bed. It took longer than usual for the shift to complete, his nerves interfering with the concentration and ability to just let it happen, as Steve usually coached him. Finally, he stuck his nose in the small crack between door and doorjam and scurried into the hall, back down the steps, and through the screendoor.

“I’m still not entirely certain this won’t come with a ‘gotcha’,” Chin was saying as he reached for his beer bottle, “though if it is, I would say kudos for the acting.” 

Instead of going straight to Steve, Danny went to Kono’s side, leaping up to settle on the arm of the adirondack chair. The motion in Kono’s peripheral vision and the surprise of seeing a wild animal perched on the arm resulted in a shriek and Danny toppled backwards, landing in a pile of fur and tail. Just as quickly, Kono leaned back over, eyes wide. 

“You - you’re - _oh my god!_ ” And just like that, two thin but strong arms swept him up. “Look at you, Danny,” she said, her face burying against his fur. “You’re gorgeous.” 

Chin and Lou stared across the table, jaws dropped in identical expressions. “That...that is a fox,” Grover said slowly. “I thought they were bigger.” 

“So did I,” Chin contributed, frowning again. “Danny’s a fox.” 

“As long as he spends getting ready in the morning, that’s not really that much of a surprise, is it?” Steve quipped. Danny’s ears flattened against his skull and he shot Steve a death glare, but Kono’s fingers rifling through his fur quickly turned it from a _I will pee on your flip flops_ to _ohsogoodpleasedon’tstop._ Then he heard a soft sniff and felt a slight wetness in his fur. Steve’s expression quickly turned from amused to sympathetic and he glanced at Chin and Lou, motioning for them to head inside. As quietly as they could, they all took their plates from the table and slipped inside.

Once they were gone, Kono pulled her legs up, making her body smaller as she cuddled him against her. “I’m so scared he’s not going to come out alive,” she whispered, her arms tightening. He couldn’t reassure her in this form, at least not verbally, but he didn’t think she needed that. Just silent, non-judgmental company. He snuggled in against her, the two of them alone in the dimness on the lanai, quiet. 

After a moment, she broke down.


	8. In Which Danny Carries Steve Around

Counseling was hard. Extremely hard. It meant scratching at old wounds and letting them bleed in the name of healing again right. Danny was starting to disagree with Steve’s assessment that a weekend was a better idea than sessions spread out, though he knew as well as Steve that the plan had been to skip most of it in favor of every activity the Maui resort had to offer.

What a sad little failure that plan became. 

The two of them sat in silence, morosely considering the overpriced beers in front of them as the thoughts neatly dug out of the dark recesses they’d been stored and forgotten in bounced around their heads. If anything, Danny felt even more insecure about his life and the people in it than before, including his partnership with the man in front of him. He’d kept a big secret from him for a long time and now he wondered if Steve trusted him as much as he once had. He wasn’t even sure what was going on in Steve’s head, but given everything he’d been through during their partnership and before, he doubted it was good. 

“Steve, I - “

“We need something stronger before we do this,” Steve muttered, setting down his empty bottle and throwing a hand up in the air to flag the bartender. “‘ey! Something a lot stronger down here.”

Danny drained the last of his beer. “I could not have put it better myself.” 

\-----------

Two shot glasses, a bottle, and a game between them. The insecurities revealed were small at first, but as the alcohol soaked into their bloodstreams, the anxieties, the depression, the inadequacies started to come out of them both.

“I’m fairly certain that I can’t keep someone around to care about me if my life depended on. It. Which it might. Maybe my social life. I think?” Steve stated, holding up a finger as he knocked back his shot, then continued, voice a little slurred. 

“Oh no no no no,” Danny replied, leaning so heavily into Steve that it was a wonder he didn’t slide off onto the ground. “No, I want to be in your life but I worry that some day you’re going to want someone brighter and nicer and then...” He threw his hands out expansively, almost falling off the stool in the other direction. “I made Rachel go away. I might make you go away because I don’t try. I don’t mean to not try but I get scared to try because this,” he added, pointing at his temple, “tells me that it won’t work.” He eyed his shot. 

“Buddy, no,” Steve’s eyes grew wide and he threw an arm around Danny’s shoulders. “Buddy, buddy. Nooo, buddy,” he told him, grasping Danny’s jaw. “I love you and that’s never gonna change.”

“I wuff uw twu,” Danny stated as best he could with liquor sloshing through his veins and a Navy SEAL squishing his lips around. 

“You have really nice lips. I mean, they look really soft and not at all chapped like mine are when I get done swimming.”

“Fank uw. Hapstik.” 

“You’re welcome.” Steve finally released his jaw and leaned into him, wrapping his arms around Danny’s shoulders and hugging him tightly. “I’m so glad you’re here to spend the weekend with me.” He frowned, nose wrinkling slightly. “Why are you drunk right now? Don’t you have the fast metabolism and...stuff?” 

Danny patted his shoulder. “I just took more shots than you. I could drink a Russian under the table, which would be kind of fun. Maybe - maybe we can find a Russian.” He craned his head to look around, then shook his head. “I don’t see a Russian. Do you see a - Steve? Steven?”

Steve let out a rumbling snore, arms still draped around Danny. “Don’t worry, ‘s all good. I got this.” He put a bill on the bar and then as best he could, he kept Steven mostly upright while he slid off his stool. It took some doing to stand up straight himself, but he finally got his feet planted to let Steve tilt forward and over his shoulder. With another heft, he got him settled in a fireman’s carry.

The bartender, come to collect on the tab, stared at them, jaw dropped. “What? You never saw a man carry his work partner SEAL person before?” Danny demanded drunkenly, not realizing what a sight the two of them made. Steve draped over his shoulder, contentedly snoring away while Danny’s hair stood up in several directions and he, of much smaller size than his partner, was easily carrying the six-foot tall man like he weighed nothing. That was one perk to his shifter condition that he’d never given consideration to before. 

It was all too easy to haul him up to their shared room, though they got a lot of looks. The difficulty came in trying to put the card in the door. It took several tries before the green light flashed and Danny pushed his way in. A few feet in, the door closing behind him, his foot caught on something and he tumbled. He tried to shift Steve’s weight and break their fall, but he landed on the floor on his ass, Steve sprawling across his legs.

And amazingly enough, continued to sleep. 

Danny leaned against the wall and blew out a breath. “Okay, this is all right. I don’t mind.” Steve shifted on his legs and Danny reached down to pet his head. “That’s okay, you just sleep. Nice and long. Sleep nice and long.” His words distorted by a yawn, he stretched one arm over his head. “Like a big, hairy baby.” He snorted, then softly giggled. “Haaairy baby seal,” he stated, then blinked. 

“Oh wait, that’s my knee.”

\----------

Morning came too soon. It came with the creeping of sunlight across the room until it hit first Steve, then Danny in the eyes. Steve rolled off Danny’s legs with a grunt while Danny winced. ‘oh god, I can’t feel anything below my waist,” he groaned, starting to lean forward to massage the feeling back into his legs when he cringed. “I wish I couldn’t feel anything in my head.” 

Steve sprawled on the floor, arms and legs stretched out. “I have aspirin in my bag. I’ll get it when the room stops rocking.”

Danny flopped back against the wall, eyes still squeezed shut. “Did we really think it was smart to drink ourselves stupid?”

“You remember what our other option was right?”

“Right. That was definitely a better option.” Danny ran a hand through his hair, trying to control it. Badly. “I meant everything I said. I think.”

“Me too.” Steve lifted his head and winced. “How did I get back to the room?”

“I carried you.”

Steve stared at him, the seconds stretching out until Danny thought they’d hit a minute. Then he dropped his head and covered his face with his hands. Laughter erupted a moment later and his whole body shook. “I can’t even imagine how that looked.”

Danny joined him in laughing. “Pretty damn awkward. Worse than our stilted attempts to talk about our feelings.” A few dying laughs followed before he chanced moving again and poked Steve in the shoulder. “Hey. You, me, we’re good right? I mean, I didn’t think about asking before, but it all seemed good.” 

Smiling softly, Steve grabbed hold of his foot and squeezed. “We were never not good, okay? That was not how I meant this weekend.”

“Well, that was questionable from the start and then you did sign us up for a life partners’ boot camp.” 

“We don’t ever tell the rest of them that. _Ever._ ”

Danny crossed over his heart and held up his hand. “You know I’m good for it.” 

There was another stretch of silence between them, Steve staring up at the ceiling again. “Danny,” he said softly, then tilted his head to look at him again, “when you kept your secret from me...it wasn’t because you didn’t trust me, was it?” 

“No!” The sound made them both wince before Danny continued. “No, absolutely, that was not it. That...I push people away from me enough as it is. Telling them I’m a freak of nature? My kid would get taken away from me altogether, I’d be taken away to some secret lab and dissected. I - I always thought the less people that knew, the better, because I didn’t want to lose the people in my life if they knew I was a monster.” 

Steve smacked his foot. Hard. “You are not a monster, Daniel, so stop saying that. Or a freak of nature. And no one would take Grace away from you.” He rest his hand on his stomach, staring at the ceiling again. “It was kind of about trust though.”

Danny swallowed hard. “Maybe a little. Not that I didn’t trust you, but that I didn’t trust me. I did not trust me to live up to the man I should be to the people in my life because...because I was a frea - OW. Would you stop already?” he growled as Steve hit his foot again.

“That’s making my head hurt more every time, just so you know,” Steve muttered.

“I’m sorry the pain you’re causing my foot is inconveniencing your head.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Okay, so it wasn’t about trusting me so much as taking Hollywood out of context, right?”

“Right.” 

“Okay.” He rolled onto his side. “I’m just going to sleep here and ponder what died in my mouth overnight. I think we’ll be forgiven for skipping the seminar on sexual incompatibility.”

“You, my friend, are a genius once in a while.”

“Thank you for noticing.”


	9. In Which Danny and Steve Talk About Where It Began

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes I need a little imagery to help pin down a description I have in mind and in looking for it, I found [werefox Danny](http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/south-american-gray-fox-2-ruth-hallam.jpg) to a T, right down to the annoyed look. So this is basically the little guy that loves riding around on Steve's shoulder and exploiting the ticklish spot on the back of his neck.

The incident came up during Danny’s background check, a small article several pages in, details few. Just the casual mention of an exotic pet attacking officers during a routine check on a suspicious residence. Steve let it be for a while once he knew the attack was the start of Danny’s shifting abilities, but eventually curiosity got the better of him. He didn’t want to ask Danny, knowing how he felt about the situation, so he requested the files from NPD, pulling in a favor from an old friend in Navy Intel to make sure his clearance passed muster. The file arrived in PDF form in his inbox a few days later. Steve wished he’d never asked.

Sure, he’d seen things during his tenure as a SEAL, as member of the Five-0 taskforce. It was wholly different seeing a familiar face, someone he cared about. Pictures taken for evidence popped up a few pages into the file. He wanted to click through them and get back to reading, where the details weren’t so _real_ , but instead he found himself staring at one brutal picture in particular, hands pulling back gauze packing to reveal savage teeth marks, the skin inflamed and stitched. The skin around was so pale, so lifeless, that Steve murmured a thankfully that none of the photos showed Danny in full. He couldn’t take seeing him like that. 

The door to his office swung open and he quickly clicked out of the file, glancing up guiltily to see Danny standing in the doorway, a hand on his hip. “Okay, I know neither one of us has much of a life, but come on, we’re ending the work day now.” He motioned for Steve to rise from his desk and remove himself from his office. “If you remove that tush from the chair, I will even pay for food in reward. Don’t make me come over there.” 

Steve started to protest that it wasn’t that late, but a quick glance at the dark windows and then at his watch confirmed that it was indeed much later than he’d thought. “Okay, yeah, I’m going,” he said, putting up his hands. Once his laptop shut down, he set it back in the drawer and moved around the desk to join Danny. “How about I take care of the food, you get the beers, and we meet at my place?” he asked, stopping in the doorway to look down at Danny. Unconsciously, he found his gaze drawn down to the area between shoulder and neck, imagining those torn furrows embedded in the skin there. Whether aware or simply habit, Danny’s fingers fiddled with his collar and subtly pulled it closer to his neck. 

“Yeah, that sounds good.” He frowned at Steve, looked as if he had a question to ask, then shook his head and turned to head for the door. “I’m going to run home and change first.” Behind his back, Steve shook his head, pinched the bridge of his nose, then hurried to catch up.

\----------

Take out containers of Indian food and bottles of beer, finished and unfinished, sat on the table between them as they stared out at the ocean, the moon reflecting on the water. In a few short days, it would be full and Steve would have a small fox curled up beside him, something that he’d gotten used to very quickly under the circumstances. Beside him, Danny shifted in his seat, glanced over at him, then sighed and reached over to nudge his arm. “Hey. What’s going on in that head of yours, huh? You’ve been acting strange since I interrupted you in your office.” His brow furrowed as he leaned further over the chair’s arm to scrutinize Steve’s face. “You didn’t get some classified mission you have to run off on, huh? A message from someone you didn’t want to hear from?” He poked at Steve’s arm again. “Something?”

Steve ran both hands over his face, trying to find a way to explain in the least condemning manner that he’d requisitioned that file because he didn’t want to make Danny relive the incident. That at least sounded better than ‘I was curious and I wanted to know and didn’t want to ask you’. 

“Steve? Come on, babe. You’re starting to worry me.” In the faint light, Danny’s face was pinched, concerned. Over the years, they’d received too much bad news and the leap to that assumption wasn’t unwarranted given the odds. There was no way he couldn’t tell him now.

“After - after you told me about what happened, I remembered the incident vaguely from your background check,” Steve said slowly, swiping his half-finished beer off the table to take a sip to fortify him. “So I checked deeper and - and I saw it, Danny. I saw the pictures and the report and I realized it wasn’t just some bite you received in the line of duty. You nearly _died_.” 

He felt Danny sink back into his seat next to him, drawing his legs up into the seat and wrapping his arms around his knees. “Yeah, I nearly did.” The response came nearly a minute later, startling Steve out of his self-recrimination, so soft that he didn’t realize Danny was speaking for a moment. He glanced over at him, but Danny was looking out at the ocean. “I’m pretty sure that was the intention.” 

Steve closed his eyes, all too sure he would agree with the assessment after seeing the pictures. The small breed exotic cat, as the file labeled the attacker without evidence to narrow down what type, went for the throat and if not for Danny struggling and blocking with his arms, surely would have ripped his throat out. He took another long pull as he realized just how close he’d come to never meeting his best friend. 

“I’m fine now. I survived and aside from a slight hirsute problem on full moons, I’m fine. You know that, right?” Danny asked, breaking the silence between them. “It’s...it only took as long as it did to get out of the hospital because of the fever. The, uh, fever that comes around when your body changes. When you’re first bitten,” he continued, the explanation rambling. “At least that’s what I think it was. It...it hurt a lot. They had me on a ventilator for a few days because between the injuries and the changing, it was a little rough there, but...yeah, I’m fine.” 

“I’m sorry, Danny. I never should have gone looking. I’ve just been so fascinated by the what and the how that I never thought - I never thought of what happened to get you here.” Danny lifted a hand, waving off Steve’s words. _It’s fine. We’re fine._ Becoming well versed in the hand movements and tones of Danny Williams, he knew that one. Danny through the were all good, but it didn’t make him feel any less like shit for poking around in the aftermath. “I just...can I ask a question?” 

Danny reclaimed his own bottle, tilting back his head to drain the last before he motioned for him to continue. “I’ve seen you with your shirt off. That attack...you said that you don’t heal faster than a normal human. Shouldn’t there be...?” He trailed off, waving his hands around and almost spilling beer on the lawn.

The answer didn’t come verbally. After a few seconds, Danny rose from his seat and grabbed Steve’s wrist, tugging him up from his chair. Steve came all too easily, surprised by the show of strength as Danny dragged him up the lawn and into the house. The brightness took some adjusting to as they made their way into the kitchen, Danny stopping beside the light above the sink. His fingers fumbled with the buttons on the worn old plaid shirt. 

“I hate these things,” he muttered, not meeting Steve’s eyes. “I mean, they healed up and then ma, she had this cream she swore up and down worked a miracle and they did, but...I still feel them there, okay? And I don’t mind scars. You can see I’ve got a lot of scars and I wear them with pride but this, this is an exception. This is something that...it changed my whole life and I didn’t get a choice in the matter and I have to wear them there on my skin and I’m afraid people will ask and yeah, I can just say that it was a wild animal attack and leave it at that but part of me feels dirty. A lying liar who lies. I feel bad enough lying about what I am on a daily basis.”

Steve frowned at him, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed defiantly. “What? A human with a little extra punch? That’s no one’s business but your own, Danny. Not even mine.” The last he added softly, remembering what he’d done to get them to this point. 

“Shifter, Steve. I’m a shifter.” For the first time, Steve heard acceptance behind this words. Not all embracing, but accepting that which he couldn’t change. Danny’s fingers tugged self-consciously at the collar again. “I wasn’t exactly a ‘whip off my shirt whenever’ kind of guy before, but I didn’t mind. Now...” He shrugged. 

“That explains a lot about you, you know. Why you were so reticent about the ties, why your shirt spends more time on than off in _Hawaii_ ,” Steve teased, trying to bring a little lightness to the conversation. It almost worked, a smile tugging at the corner of Danny’s mouth before it settled into serious again.

Danny tugged the shirt off his shoulder. “You gotta - look, you have to come a little closer because they’re faint but they’re there,” he stated, beckoning Steve forward. Steve looked at him for permission, given with a small nod, before he raised his hand to touch. Danny happened to be a little hairy anyway, the soft golden hair creating a little camouflage for the faint marks, right where he remembered the photos putting them. They were pale, a few shades lighter than Danny’s much healthier skin tone than those photos. Steve swallowed hard, remembering how pale he’d looked, so ashen. 

Unable to help himself, his fingers laid against the marks and ran over them. He heard Danny swallow and glanced up to see him closing his eyes, mouth set in a firm line. “Danny, you know these aren’t bad, right? You can barely see them anymore,” he said softly, taking a step back and recrossing his arms. Danny tugged his shirt back up, fingers quickly moving up the buttons. 

“They were. They were at one point and I still feel them there every day, sometimes when I move my arm just right, and they’re a reminder. I like to live my life as normal as I can and you know how it is. You see the smallest flaws in yourself so much louder than the rest of the world because you know what to look for and...and your mind just makes it worse, so much worse than it really is,” he stated, waving his hands around beside his head. “It’s just always there and I thought having people that know might help but it’s always there. There are these worries that I just-”

Steve took him by the shoulders, making Danny look him in the eye. “I know that I don’t know much more than you about this. Neither do Chin or Kono or Lou. You are the expert here, Danny, and you already told me that you don’t know that much. The one thing I do know though? We’re not going to let anything happen to you. _Ever_ ,” he stated firmly. “You all have gone through enough. I’m going to do my damnedest to see that you have a good life. All of you.” 

There was something in that statement that made Danny’s head tilt, his brow furrow as he gazed up at Steve, expression searching. He knew that look, when Danny wanted to ask something, but he debated on doing so. His tongue caught between his teeth, he nodded once, then finally came out with it. “And you too, huh? Because you deserve that good life just as much as us, Steve, and I’ll be damned if you spend your life focusing on all the people around you and never on yourself. You need to be happy too,” he said, poking him hard in the shoulder. “Don’t brush that off either. No ‘I am happy’ or ‘I won’t’. I want you to make an honest attempt at finding ways in life to be happy, to get what you want in life.” 

Steve stared at him, then smiled softly down at his partner. “I won’t brush it off. I already have a life better than I thought I would, Danny. I just...I need to get things in order but yeah, I’m getting there. I’m getting to happiness,” he reassured him. That didn’t alleviate the look of concern in Danny’s eyes, but he nodded. Steve didn’t expect that to be a dropped conversation, but at least the heat was off of him for now. 

Pushing past him, Danny reached into the fridge and pulled out two bottles. Turning to hand the other to Steve, he tilted his head towards the backyard. “Let’s go finish that food. I’m still starving.” 

“You’re always starving.” 

“Being this foxy is hard work, babe. Very hard work.”


	10. In Which A Fox Mucks Up An Illegal Deal

The moment their target thumbed the small box in his hand, the surveillance on the old warehouse turned to static. Visual, audio, all of it gone in the flick of a button and not responding to the hearty smack Chin gave it on the side of the monitor. He scowled and pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing loudly. “They have a scrambler,” he told Steve, their boss peering back from the front seat of the van. 

Steve’s gloves hand smacked the steering wheel. “If we don’t have that visual, we can’t enter and we’re going to lose that information.” Sure, the capture of the two criminals and their respective entourages would be a boon for Five-0, but a flash drive was small and took no time to destroy. They needed what was on that, the locations of a weapon shipment, to finish the job properly. 

The atmosphere in the van remained quiet, tense, until Danny spoke up. “So you, uh, said Van Houhten likes to talk, right? So we’ve got a few minutes before the deal goes down?” 

Lou made a soft sound, crossing his arms as he leaned back in his seat. “Man’s lips flap more than a duck’s ass in the wind. It’s surprising he hasn’t been caught or spread secrets yet by sheer accident.”

“I’m not going to ask how you know the thing about duck’s asses - “

“It’s an old saying - “

“Not the point right now,” Danny said, holding up his hands. “The point is, we need someone to get in there and get in there now. I can do that.” He glanced around at everyone. “You know, as a fox. I’m small and really, who is going to give me much notice if I am accidentally seen? It’s an old warehouse. Wildlife showing up can’t be that surprising.” 

Steve pursed his lips, staring out the front window. When he finally turned back to Danny, his brow was furrowed in concern. “You sure about this?” he asked. That was all the confirmation that Danny needed, starting to strip down his tac gear. 

“If we can use it, why not?” he asked, dropping his gear on a table, then pausing. “I...uh. Okay, everyone needs to turn around because I can’t get out to finish stripping down.”

From the passenger seat, Kono snorted in amusement and turned as Steve quickly sunk back into his seat. Chin closed his eyes as did Lou, who promptly slapped his hands over them as well. “Don’t want to get blinded by your pale ass,” he muttered.

“It’s not as pale as you think,” Danny muttered, stripping down as quickly as he could and tossing his clothes on top of his gear. It was like the nightmare, winding up naked in front of the class, only this time it was his teammates and they weren’t looking. Still, he had no desire to linger in the awkwardness any longer than he had to.

“Oh god. Danny, I’m sorry, but that is a painful sound,” Kono whispered sympathetically from the front seat. He was too far shifted to respond, but he would have held the sarcasm in check anyway. Her heart was in the right place. Once he was done, he put his front paws on Chin’s leg, nudging at his elbow. The man’s eyes opened and he smiled down at him.

“All right, lets do this.” After a quick scratch behind the ear, he got up from his seat and pushed the back door open slightly. Danny hopped out, loping across the broken old parking lot and around the corner, towards the old warehouse. A quick sniff around brought him to a breach in the building small enough to wiggle through.

Inside was dim and musty, dust floating in the small shafts of sunlight poking through broken areas. Danny let out a small sneeze and shook, creating a cloud that rose in one particular ray of sunshine. Then he took off, slinking along the abandoned items in the warehouse until he found his targets. There were eight of them, bosses included. 

Hunkering down beside an old oil drum, he watched as the two men talked football, gaze swinging to each of their lackies before he found the one he wanted. Tall, built like a linebacker, Danny was going to climb him like a tree.

Only not in the fun way.

Darting from his hiding place, he picked up speed, the others only catching sight of him in time to tell out a warning. Not fast enough to move. His head collided with the man’s crotch and it bent him forward with an _oof_ It brought the device within Danny’s reach and he easily nipped it out of his pocket and darted away. 

“...the hell is that dog doing?” One of the men yelled, before he was cut off by his boss yelling for them to get it. A bullet whinged by his ear, striking a metal drum. 

“I’ll get it!” 

“You do that while we finish this up and get out of here.” 

_Shit._ Danny skidded to a stop so quick that the thug chasing him nearly fell over him. He had to make a decision and when it came down to it, the information was more important than getting rid of the scrambler. He dropped the box and spun around, feeling a hand just barely miss his tail as he headed back. 

_There._ The flash drive was in hand, slowly being handed across. Danny’s legs pumped harder, back legs tensing as he paused to take a leap. He didn’t quite manage to grab it between his teeth, but it was enough to knock it loose. He darted after it. 

“What the f - this thing is rabid! Someone put it down already and get me the damn drive!” Van Houten bellowed, smacking two men into motion. That was when the hailstorm of bullets began in earnest. _You’ve got it. Just get out of here,_ Danny told himself as he skidded around an old crate and shot for the doorway. 

Suddenly, something tore across his left hindquarter and he lost control, paws scrambling for purchase as he tumbled along the dirty concrete floor, finally coming to a stop against a beam. Pain throbbed through his leg but he didn’t have time to check. He pulled to his feet and started to hobble for the door, flash drive still tightly clenched in his teeth. 

Fingers grabbed his scruff. “Come here, you ugly mutt,” the muscled thug snarled, trying to grab the flash drive from his mouth. Danny stubbornly refused, swinging his head this way and that. 

“Just shoot it already!” Someone bellowed from the meeting site. Danny flailed, his heart rate jumping up as he realized that he couldn’t get loose, his decision left him without backup, he was screwed... 

A single crack and the body nearly crushed him as it fell. 

The doors in front burst open, Steve, Chin, and Lou walking in with guns up, ready to shoot. From a higher perch, Danny saw a flash of brown hair, no doubt Kono exiting her sniper’s nest. He sunk to the ground, his leg aching painfully, heart thundering. Closing his eyes, he willed it to slow down. It was over. It was done. They did it. 

“Hey. Danny,” Chin said softly, crouching down to run a hand along his back. He held out his other, Danny dropping the flash drive into it. He couldn’t hold back the whimper when he pushed to his feet, holding up the injured leg. “Whoa, easy.” Sticking the drive in his pocket, Chin gently picked him up. “Take it easy, Danny.” 

Danny looked up at him, grumbling along in the only way he could. Until Steve came by with Van Houhten in cuffs. Squirming so much that Chin finally had to put him down, Danny hobbled over. _This is exactly what you deserve, you son of a bitch._ Hiking his injured leg a little higher, he marked Van Houhten’s expensive shoe while glaring up at the man, ears flattened. 

Van Houhten protested, of course, and very loudly at that, while Steve stood behind him, mouth buried against his shoulder as he tried to keep from laughing. Even as Chin bent down to pick him up from the ground, there was an amused sparkle in his eyes. 


	11. In Which Danny Is A Bed Hog

Danny curling up on the empty side of the bed became a full moon ritual, Steve scooping him off the couch or the floor, wherever he’d tried to curl up to sleep, and (gently) tossing him into the empty space while he crawled into his usual spot and settled in to sleep. Never having a dog or cat himself growing up, he could see how pet owners could enjoy the close proximity of their pets. When Danny fell asleep that way, not a flurry of constant movement, he could see the markings in his fur better, amused that the small tattoos on his hand translated over to black markings in the fur on his paw. The first few times, Danny kept to his side of the bed, curled up in a small ball. Then, as he grew more comfortable, Steve received the true pet owner experience.

Paws in the face, mouth full of tail, waking up to weight draped over him in odd places because Danny, at some point during the night, moved across the bed like a glacier over millions of years and wound up curling up _on_ Steve instead of the bed itself. Most of the time, it required a mere adjustment before Steve closed his eyes and settled back in to sleep. Some positions were just too uncomfortable to adjust to, however.

“Danno,” Steve mumbled, unable to open one eye while the paw remained pressed smack dab on the right side of his face. Gently, he removed his partner’s paw from his face and opened his eyes fully to get a eye full of something he just didn’t want to see. Dear god, someone out there had to make sleeping shorts for animals if this position became a regular occurrence. Danny remained sprawled out on his back, front legs tucked up and back legs sprawled out. Steve stared at the fox for a beat before huffing out a breath, rolling over, and settling in again, trapped on the outter edge of the bed. 

He wasn’t sure how much time passed, but the feel of fur brushing along his neck and then under his chin pulled him from sleep and a dream about Chin Ho insisting the entire team learn salsa dancing to distract terrorists. He blamed the spicy food Danny brought over for dinner. Opening one eye again, he remained still as Danny turned a few times in the small spot between the edge of the bed and Steve, then dropped with a huff, cuddling up under Steve’s chin and resting his head on his neck. 

Which he could have lived with, had Danny not been a mini-furnace. 

Within ten minutes, the closeness started to get uncomfortably warm. Gently, Steve slipped his arms around Danny and slowly turned, depositing the fox on the other side of the bed. Danny never stirred, just remained in his tiny ball while Steve’s hands hovered over him, ready to soothe him back to sleep if he stirred. Nothing. Breathing a sigh of relief, he slid back under the covers and closed his eyes. 

Somewhere down the line, Danny stretched out and headbutted him right in the McGarrett jewels, eliciting a small grunt from Steve. 

That was it. He loved Danny dearly but there was no way in hell that sleep would happen tonight with his partner rolling and sprawling all over the bed like he was. Grabbing his pillow, Steve slid off the bed to lay down on the floor, fluffing the pillow several times before jamming it under his head. He’d slept in worse places during his service to his country and mentally reminded himself of that as he adjusted to the hard floor, finally finding a comfortable spot. He barely had his eyes closed a minute when he heard the soft sounds from up on the bed.

Sitting up, he glanced across the mattress to where Danny had once again curled into a ball, shivers running through his body. Steve remained still until he heard the soft yip that became a cry, the sound stabbing him in the heart. Granted, he was no wildlife expert, but he was aware of Danny’s trouble with sleeping and drawing from his own experiences, he was reasonably sure he could tell a nightmare even when Danny was in fox form.

He quickly scrambled up from the ground, dropped the pillow back in its usual place, and slid Danny slowly towards him. Tucking the fox in his arms like a baby, he brushed a hand along his side, making soothing sounds. “It’s all right, Danny. You’re in safe company. I’ve got you and I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he murmured. The fox’s eyes never opened, but he seemed to know, burrowing against Steve’s chest. 

Holding him in one arm, Steve slowly sunk down into a horizontal position and rolled onto his side. Depositing Danny on the bed again, he quickly pulled him in to his chest again, fingers finding the soothing spots. “Just sleep easy, buddy. I’m here,” he stated, finishing the assurance around a yawn. Once Danny settled back into an easy sleep, Steve drifted off not long after, fingers still stroking through fur. 

\------

He managed to finish out the night in a dreamless deep sleep, until his bedside alarm started to chirp at him for his early morning swim. Steve briefly thought about smacking it onto the floor, maybe shooting it, and simply curling up and going back to sleep. Danny radiated warmth pressed against him, fur tickling at his nose and lips, cuddling against his chest, leg slung over hi 

_Wait._

One eye opened and then the other. The fur tickling his face, the blond and very wild fur, was not fur at all, but _hair_. Danny shifted back in the early morning hours and there was a naked man - his partner - pressed up against him. Steve froze there, trying to figure out what to do. Danny slept on peacefully, mouth slightly open and a light snore issuing forth, completely oblivious to the situation. Pursing his lips, Steve gave it a moment’s consideration before making up his mind.

He flipped the sheet from himself over onto Danny, covering his partner over in deference to his decency, then slung an arm lightly over his upper body and closed his eyes again, settling in for another hour of sleep. 

When running with shifters, do as the shifters did.


	12. In Which Steve Has A Conflict and Kono And Danny Take A Drive

“Look. With a few pet thefts in the area, I did a thing. A thing that you probably won’t like, but just let me explain, all right?” 

Danny stopped mid-chew, eyeing the fidgeting SEAL across the table from them. Usually when Steve grew antsy, it meant he went against something Danny made very clear not to do with varying results. In turn, he grew uneasy, wondering what trouble to expect next. The last thing, however, was for Steve to pull a collar out of the pocket of his cargo pants and hesitantly slide it towards Danny. 

Blue and white camo, of course. Danny picked it up and studied the two tags dangling from the clasp at the front. Underneath _Jersey_ etched into the bone shaped tag followed Steve’s address and phone number. The tag underneath claimed the animal wearing the collar to be registered. He frowned and glanced up at Steve, holding up the collar for an explanation. 

“I just thought that maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea for you to be outside without a collar on. For the sake of appearances,” Steve explained, leaning forward to keep his voice low. “I know that you’re a fox but I did some research and I managed to come up with a few dog breeds that, when combined together, would probably create a mutt that looks like you. I think. So when asked, I can answer without suspicion.”

“That and fox ownership is illegal in most places,” Danny added after finishing the mouthful. “I think you found one of those rare times when I am not annoyed with you for going forward with something like this, but applauding the thought you put into it.” He tilted his head. “And a little touched.”

“Yeah?” The hesitance became relief and Steve sat up a little straighter, reaching over to snag a shrimp for Danny’s plate. He nearly missed losing a finger to the fork in an attempt.

“Yeah. The last thing I need is to be kidnapped, stuffed in a small cage, and sold off. A few days in that form and I’d probably forget I’m human with my luck,” Danny stated, waving the fork around. “Wearing a collar while I find a bush to relieve myself in is the least undignified thing I could do. See: pissing in a bush. Which, by the way, the neighbor’s cat is also crapping in. On your side.”

Steve frowned, then shook his head. “I like cats but that thing is a menace to society.” The cranky old tabby hated the world and since he continued to suffer in it, he made sure everyone within reach did too. The last incident involved sitting on the windowsill outside his bedroom and yowling at some godawful hour. 

“Just say the word and I send him a message,” Danny added.

“And that is exactly why you are ‘Jersey’,” Steve replied dryly. “Leave the cat alone. I’ll talk to his owner again.” 

Pushing the collar back to Steve, Danny tucked back into his plate. “I like it. If I have to wear a collar, at least you found one I can live with. Even if it is Navy colors.” 

“What? Like I’d make you wear Army? That would be undignified.” As soon as the confidence returned, Steve became antsy again. “Speaking of collars, how against wearing it for a few hours would you be? I might have mistaken the date of the full moon and Lynn is coming over.” 

Danny paused, staring across the table at him. “So you’re going to stick me outside all night? With the angry tabby? You understand that it could go horribly, horribly wrong and I can’t be held accountable for what might happen.” 

Steve rubbed his forehead. “The full moon is tomorrow, Danny, and I refuse to let you go back to the habit of spending it alone. I also can’t cancel on Lynn hours before, not unless it's work. So you spend a couple hours outside while we hang out and eat the dinner I promised her, then I bring you inside when we go to bed. I’ll even ‘accidentally’ leave the TV on for you, like that time you stayed over at my place while you were apartment hunting.”

His partner looked so uncomfortable and so pathetic in that moment, it was hard for Danny to stay annoyed for long. That wasn’t to say he still didn’t feel some annoyance, but it was overwhelmed by placating him when he was obviously trying to fix a mistake by compromise, making both happy. He held up a finger. “One rule. I am not comfortable with being held by her. It’s not that I don’t like Lynn, because I do. I think she’s fantastic. I am, however, uncomfortable with the idea of her holding me and not knowing that, aside from one night a month, I am a human man. It’s a case of false advertising and one that I would not like to inflict on someone, all right?”

Steve blew out a sigh of relief and leaned forward, hands dropping on Danny’s forearm. “That I will happily promise to you,” he replied. “Thank you, partner. I swear that this will not happen again. I plan on putting every full moon into my phone so that I can check whenever, wherever.” 

Danny withdrew one arm so he could reach over to pat Steve’s head. “I still love you anyways, you animal. Just keep your end of the bargain up and everything will work out.”

\------------

Danny lay stiffly in Lynn’s arms while Steve stood absolutely still in the doorway to the lanai, two beers in hand, mouth open and eyes wide. Lynn’s fingers ran through the soft fur around Danny’s neck. “You didn’t tell me you had a pet,” she said to him, grinning ear to ear. “He’s beautiful. I didn’t think you were allowed to own a fox though.”

“He’s not a fox,” Steve blurted, quickly setting the bottles down on the table and crossing over to Lynn, hands held out to take Danny away from her. Danny laid his ears back, glaring at Steve. _You let her out of your sight for one moment, just one, and look what happened. I am incredibly uncomfortable right now, Steven, and I blame you._ “He’s a, uh, he’s a...” _Oh, this is wonderful. Classified mission, he doesn’t say a word. Tell a little white lie to someone, the man turns into Pinocchio. He says a single dog breed and his nose is going to grow an inch, just watch._ Instead, Steve stood there with his arms out, resembling the protagonist of the old Mummy movies. “Mutt,” he finished lamely. “He just looks like a fox.”

Lynn scratched under Danny’s chin, placing a soft kiss on top of his head. “He’s adorable. The resemblance is uncanny.” She picked up his nametag, raising an eyebrow as she glanced up at Steve. “‘Jersey’?” 

He dropped his arms, shrugging lightly. “He’s small and a pain in my ass, much like human pain in my ass who bears the same nickname,” he replied, giving her a lopsided grin. Lynn’s fingers returned to scratching at Danny’s furry neck and he was weighing his options for escape when she found _that_ spot. His traitorous back leg started to work, slowly and then picking up speed. Danny looked pitifully at Steve, who looked helplessly back. “You know what?” he said quickly, holding up his hands, “Jersey is very, very high maintenance.” A quiet growl. “He might enjoy spending the night with Kono while we, uh, visit.” 

Danny’s ears perked up and he made as close to a sound of approval as he could manage. While Steve did promise, he understood the SEAL ended up over his head when it came to social obligations and as much as he enjoyed seeing Steve twitch, this was crossing into awkward far too much for his liking. Steve quickly pulled his phone from his pocket and disappeared into the house while Lynn sunk into a chair with Danny still in her grasp. “I think your daddy is being a little ridiculous. You don’t seem high maintenance at all,” she cooed, raising her fingers to scratch beneath his ears. 

The brief thought of escape flew the coop as he tilted back his head and melted into the touch. _Damn you, weak spots._

\---------

“Here,” Steve whispered as he transferred Danny into Kono’s arms, then disappeared in the doorway to return with a plastic bag. “His water dish and tennis balls are in here.”

“Tennis balls,” Kono drawled, looking from Steve to Danny in her arms, the fox staring up at her with a challenging look. _Just try to say something. So I happen to enjoy a good game of catch in this form and I can’t fit a football in my mouth. I’m making the best of a situation I can’t help._ She snorted softly and lifted him to kiss the top of his head. “Don’t worry, Steve. We’ll be fine. It’ll be nice to have some company in the house.” She smiled sadly at him, setting Danny down to take the bag from him. “Just go enjoy your date, okay?”

Steve quickly darted forward to hug her, thanking her profusely, then crouched down to scratch behind Danny’s ears. “I am so sorry about this, buddy. Next full moon, steaks. I promise.” With one last pet, he disappeared into the house and Kono turned to walk back to her car.

“I’m kind of happy that he needed a little help,” she mused, looking down at Danny as he trotted beside her. He looked up at her questioningly. “A night drive is better with company sometimes.” She pulled open the door and he hopped into the passenger side. Once she was in the driver’s side, she started the car and rolled down both windows. “Go on ahead. You know you want to.” She reached across and stroked his back. 

Tentatively, Danny stuck his head out the window and as the vehicle picked up speed, the warm night air caressed over him, ruffling his fur. He closed his eyes, inhaling the different scents deeply, the night coming alive around them. “I so envy you right now. I always wondered what it was like. Dogs seem to enjoy it so much,” Kono mused softly. 

_It’s...it’s something else,_ Danny thought, as if she could hear him. Abandoning the window, he climbed up on the console and settled in so he could rest his head on her shoulder. Kono tilted her head just enough to rest her cheek on top of his head. 

“This is fun,” she told him, the highway stretching out before them, so much of the night left ahead of them. “If Steve’s not careful, he might start losing full moon nights.”


	13. In Which Kono and Danny Hang Out

Somewhere along the night drive, Kono found a pizza place still open that served passable pies and a place where the moonlight gave the beach enough glow to make a picnic. Kono spread an old plaid blanket out on the sand and settled with the box. Danny pounced on the biggest slice, nipping it by the crust and pulling it into the box top. Two paws on the pizza, he grabbed hold of the point and tore at it, chomping happily. Kono snorted in amusement, clapping a hand over her mouth to keep from losing the contents. 

“You are ridiculous, you know that?” she asked, ruffling the fur between his ears. Danny huffed at that, letting out a stream of noises that only made her giggle harder, her dimpled smile adorable and sweet. “I am allowed to call you ridiculous. _Tennis balls_ , Danny. You let Steve throw tennis balls at you,” Kono teased, then leaned forward to plunk a light kiss on his nose. “I mean it in an adorable way.” 

Admittedly Kono was the only one that could get away with that kind of thing. Each member of Five-0 held a special place in his heart and Kono, well, he was extremely proud of her. She was bright, determined, and so kind, witty and quick. By far his favorite rookie that he’d ever helped mentor, she hadn’t needed much help from them. He forgot quick that she didn’t have the experience they did and at times, she seemed less the rookie in the cop field than Steve did. He regretted not spending as much time with her lately, especially in the face of Adam’s incarceration. Life pulled them all in separate directions but they fought to keep coming back together. He hoped the day never came that fractured them permanently.

After they ate their fill, Kono packed them up and they finished their drive, heading back to her place. He curled up in the arm chair while she took to the bathroom to change into her pajamas, then curled up in bed. “Hey, Danny, come over here,” she called to him, patting the other side of the bed. He peeked over the arm of the chair. It was one thing with Steve, because Steve was an octopus and didn’t know the meaning of personal space. With Kono, he wasn’t sure if it crossed a line there. 

While he debated his options, she leaned over to the other side of the bed and he heard the rustling of plastic. Then a tennis ball went bouncing past and his ears perked, following it’s path before he looked back at her. Kono sat up in bed, arms crossed stubbornly. “Now you have to get it and bring it back to me,” she informed him, looking pleased with herself. Feeling mighty stubborn himself, Danny curled back up, refusing to play that game. 

He lasted a minute. _Damn it._

Hopping down from the chair, he dug the ball out from underneath table and trotted back. _This is embarrassing. You people don’t understand the compulsion, okay? It’s a need to chase these damn neon things down and I can’t leave one there. I just can’t. When I’m human-shaped again, we are having a discussion. Ball etiquette and handling etiquette. No teasing the fox, no carrying him like a designer purse._

The moment he was in reach, Kono scooped him up and buried them under the sheet. Danny spit out the ball in surprise and it rolled over the side of the bed, disappearing from sight. The desire struck him again and he started to scramble for it when her arms tightened and pulled him back. “You’re my teddy bear tonight,” she mumbled, fingers finding the place Lynn did earlier, scratching the fur around his neck. “Don’t make me sleep alone in bed tonight.” Despite the yawn breaking up her words, she sounded so vulnerable in that moment that the need to do exactly as she wanted broke the hold the ball had over him and he burrowed down against her, chirping and nuzzling her consolingly under the chin. 

“Thank you,” she said, words sleep slurred as she drifted off to sleep.

\---------

Once the sun started to creep across the floor, Danny wiggled out of Kono’s loose grasp and landed silently on the floor. Tugging his pants and boxers from the bag, he padded across the floor to the bathroom, head held up high. It wasn’t enough to stop him from tripping over the pants and tumbling into a pile, but he shook himself out and finished his journey. One uncomfortable shift and dressing later, he grabbed his shirt and crept into her kitchen.

It was his tradition by now, thanking his host for their kindness by making them breakfast. However much Steve harped on his eggs, Danny considered himself a damn decent cook and by the time he heard Kono rustling in the bedroom, he was sliding pancakes on the two plates and slicing fresh strawberries he found in the fridge to place on top. 

Kono padded into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “You didn’t have to do this,” she mumbled as she sunk into a chair. Setting the plate in front of her, Danny returned to grab the glasses of orange juice.

“You didn’t have to give me a place to stay while I was furry, but you did,” Danny replied. Setting the glass beside her plate, he leaned down to give her a kiss on the top of her head. “The night goes faster when you’re not alone.” It was a subtle acknowledgement of the last thing she said before she went to sleep and a sentiment he knew through different circumstances. Her hand grabbed his before it could leave her shoulder, squeezing as she looked up at him, expression softening in an unspoken thanks. Danny smiled down at her then went to grab his own breakfast.

As he sat down, Kono was already tucking in. “So,” she started as Danny settled in, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes, “tennis balls.”


	14. In Which Danny Protects His Skulk

A skulk.

Groupings of foxes went by other names as well but for the first time, Danny needed a name and he would never find one more appropriate. Steve, Chin, Kono, Lou, Grace. His skulk, full of ninjas and smartasses, the people he would unquestioningly die to protect. The people he would show another side if it meant saving their lives.

Every moment of every day, the awareness that he shared a mental, emotional, and physical space with curled up in the back of Danny’s mind, quiet and abiding until it saw a way forward. The amount of control he exercised in a daily basis, people had no idea. The anger he showed the world, the frustration, he learned to let it out, inch by inch, until he felt the fox uncurl in interest and it stopped there. Every powerful emotion involved the same practiced evaluation. Even grief. 

What would make him let it out entirely? Threats. The verbal kind, no. Words, while sometimes painful, were still just that. No, the threat of physical injury, of permanent damage to _his_ in a situation where letting loose outweighed reining it in. So many times he wanted to let it out, to protect his people, his skulk, but people around that shouldn’t, couldn’t know. 

“Chin? Come on, babe, stay with me.” Danny stripped the gloves off and tossed them away, scrambling to undo the strap on Chin’s vest so he could find a clear injury instead of guessing from the slow trickle through the punctured tough fabric. A bullet, sure. A knife, not always. Chin, awake but not alert, mumbled something incomprehensible to even Danny’s enhanced hearing and touched a hand to the side of his head. “Hey, try not to move so much. You took a-”

Better guard. He should have been on better guard, alert to his surroundings. A hand grabbed the back of his vest and roughly pulled him back as another shadow moved forward, towards Chin, after a rough ‘finish him’ from the partner pinning Danny down. 

This. This was a moment where damn the rules and damn the consequences came into play. If he didn’t act, he’d lose an important person to him, to his skulk. 

The animal was more than happy to fight to the surface, just as invested in Chin’s well being as the man it shared space with. Danny’s nails lengthened to sharp claws, digging in past the lightweight fabric their attackers wore. It gave him a moment of surprise to take advantage of and the scent of blood danced lightly on the air - the hunt was on.

The dim room didn’t brighten so much as come into clearer focus as his eyes adjusted, canine fangs sliding into place. Green eyes widened on a masked face and he thrust his head forward, the headbutt knocking the man back just enough for him to wiggle loose and get back to his feet. 

He caught the brief flash of his reflection in a dingy old mirror, still more human than animal, but clearly not entirely so. The sharper ears, the slightly lowered brow across the bridge of his nose giving him a more animalistic look. Somewhere, Danny balked, but the fox ignored it and turned on the two humans who dared hurt one of its own. The words were there, a demand to know what he was, but it was all he needed to grab the gun aimed towards Chin and slam the offending arm down on his knee. 

The other man’s efforts seemed slow in comparison and Danny easily caught him by the scruff and flicked him aside into a pile of debris like he weighed nothing. He’d barely landed when Danny turned on the other man, the one with the scent of Chin’s blood on him, and rushed him, teeth bared. They collided and he landed in a crouch over him. _Eliminate the threat to the skulk._ The urge came in a strange combination of animal thought and his own voice, both in agreement when they shouldn’t have been. Danny knew better. _He_ knew better as a cop

It gave him just enough pause for strong arms to grab him around the middle and haul him off and up. Danny snarled and lashed out, kicking as his feet cleared the ground. “Damn it, Williams, _stop_!” Lou demanded sharply in his ear as Steve rushed past to cuff the downed man and Kono went directly for Chin. Danny’s eyes tracked her, his snarls becoming a soft whimper before he fought to remember using words again. Letting it get as far as it had was a slippery slope.

“Hurt,” he said softly, calming as Lou’s arms loosened slightly around him. Kono stayed crouched over Chin, blocking him from his sight, her phone to her ear as she called for an ambulance. He inhaled sharply, tilting his head back against Lou’s chest, squeezing his eyes shut. “Shit. Sorry,” he murmured.

“Nothing to be sorry about. Just put that fox back in its den before the ambulance gets here, all right?”

\------------

Chin woke after a few hours in the hospital, the exhaustion almost worse than the injuries themselves. Danny felt the movement but didn’t open his eyes, instead burrowing closer and resting his nose under Chin’s chin. It was reassurance that he was all right, still there, alive.

“...what?” Chin usually chose his words careful and that one was no exception.

“Shhh, just relax,” Danny mumbled. He opened one eye to see Chin lift the hand all the wires and tubes were connected to, just enough to poke him in the shoulder.

“Are we cuddling?” Pain medication. They had him on the good stuff all right. Across the room, Steve chuckled quietly from where he sprawled on an uncomfortable hospital room chair. Lou was passed out cold on the other hospital bed. 

“Kono got up for coffee,” Danny mumbled. “I didn’t want the good side getting cold. I’m also having an animalistic hangover, so just roll with it and enjoy it.” 

Chin seemed to mull it over before he felt the faintest shrug against him. “Okay,” he replied and pat Danny sloppily on the cheek. “Good Danny. Until Kono kicks you off.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not the best at responding to comments, but I greatly appreciate the kudos and comments and the readers. Thank you very much, guys!


	15. In Which Danny Has Competition

“Dad, do you have the cheese?” Grace pushed aside the various packages laid out on the counter for the homemade lasagna, but the shredded cheese remained absent. “Did we get cheese?”

“Did we get cheese? Of course we got cheese. You can’t forget the cheese when it comes to grandma’s recipe,” Danny replied as he entered the kitchen with the laundry basket, setting it down on the table before heading over to help Grace look. As it turned out, they forgot to check the fridge, where a new package sat propped against the mik. While his daughter got back to work, Danny kissed the top of her head and headed over to the table to start folding laundry.

Three pairs of socks in, his phone started to vibrate and he picked it up, hoping it wasn’t a work call. Instead, he found a text message from Lynn. Immediately, the worst case scenarios crossed his mind. They went on another date and Steve was injured. They were in danger. Steve stuck his foot in his mouth and royally pissed Lynn off. He quickly brought it up on screen and found a picture.

Clearly in the toy aisle at a store, Steve cuddled the plush version of the fox character from Zootopia to his face, tie, shirt, khakis and all. His best friend smiled goofily at the camera and Danny closed his eyes, resisting the urge to smack the nonpresent SEAL. 

_Your partner is a strange man, but adorable,_ Lynn wrote. 

_Tell him he can’t keep him._

_Too late. We’re already outside the store and he’s driving us home with the fox sitting on his lap._ The phone chimed with another text soon after, Steve sitting in the driver seat of the Silverado, the stuffed animal sitting with him. 

_Why?_

_He said it reminded him of you?_ The last text made Danny splutter as it finally sunk in exactly why Steve attached himself to the fox, his palm meeting his face. 

_Tell him it stays at home._

\---------

“Steve, _no_ ,” Danny groaned as he entered headquarters to see the fox sitting on the table, giving him that smug look that almost made him want to smack the stuffed animal off. That expression was too knowing, too...something.

Kono picked him up, cuddling him to her chest. “I like him. He doesn’t need to be asked several times to cuddle,” she stated cheekily, leaning over to put an arm around Danny’s shoulders. “And Steve is right. He does remind me of you. Remember how long it took us to break you of those ties?” 

Danny took advantage of the close proximity to pluck it out of her arms, dangling it by an ear. “A year and a half and to be fair to HPD, they put in the half,” he replied, “and this? This is going in my office because we are not children here, okay? Okay.” He strode off from the table, pushing the door to his office open and tossing the stuffed animal onto the couch. “Now, does someone want to fill us in on the latest case developments or am I going to have to accidentally open several apps and change a few settings trying to find them myself?” 

\---------

Next time, he needed to hide that damn thing. As Danny dropped Grace off at Rachel’s place, his phone chimed with another text message. 

The fox sat on the seat of Chin’s bike, helmet dwarfing it.

_Ever think about becoming a motorcycle cop? It’s a good look for you._

\----------

The next day, Chin professed not to know where the stuffed animal disappeared to. Steve held up his hands, eyebrows rising and bottom lip sticking out slightly in a facsimile of an innocent look. Kono shook her finger at him when he questioned her. “You took him away from me, you jerk. Remember? Now go get me a coffee to say you’re sorry.”

He had a small weak spot when it came to Kono, so he got her a coffee just the way she liked it.

While he was gone, his phone received another text message. This time, the stuffed animal sat in the passenger seat of Lou’s SUV, the captain leaning over to take a selfie with it. Both of them had cigars. 

Danny sighed and banged the phone against his forehead several times.

\------------

“Dad?” Grace rubbed tiredly at her eyes, settled in the passenger seat of his car. “I was looking for the new passcode in your text messages and...why did Kono send you a picture of a stuffed animal?” 

Danny nearly spit a mouthful of coffee on the steering wheel, taking advantage of the red light to take the phone from Grace. On the screen, Kono lay on her board, still wet from a surfing session, the fox propped up next to her, wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses. _His_ sunglasses that he’d left in her car. 

“It’s...it’s a joke. A ridiculous joke,” he grumbled, setting the phone in the cupholder. Grace let out a soft laugh, then covered a yawn.

“He kind of reminds me of you with the tie and the way he’s dressed,” she stated and this time, Danny did choke.

\--------------

Kono insisted adamantly that the fox took off to his day job after they met up to surf, Chin refused to tell him who ended up with it next, and Lou dryly told him not to get so worked up, they wouldn’t be replacing their favorite fox anytime soon. Danny huffed and glared at all of them, lifting a finger and shaking it. “You are all...mean people,” he muttered.

“You mean hilarious. Definitely hilarious,” Kono replied, tilting her head and giving him that cheeky grin of hers. He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“I’m also a very good detective. I noticed that our illustrious leader isn’t here, so if all of you are telling me the truth, I know exactly where it is,” he stated, standing up a little taller, “so I just have to wait until he shows up and question him until he crumbles like a cookie...anyone else want a cookie?” 

“No.” Lou leaned over the table, swiping through a file. “Also, McGarrett’s in meetings all day. Good luck getting your doppleganger back.”

“He’s not my - you people are impossible, you know that?” Spinning on his foot, Danny turned and marched into his office. “There’s only room for one fox on this team!”

\--------------

Steve grinned over at Danny as they sat in the parking lot of Leonard’s, Danny pawing through a box of fresh malasadas. He let Steve continue to grin like an idiot until it became clear that he wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. “What?”

“Nothing!” Steve leaned over to snatch up a malasada, taking a bite out of it. “Just wondering how your morning went.”

“My morning went fine.” Closing the box, he set it down between his feet and leaned back in his seat. “For once, I did not wake up to text messages with pictures of stuffed animals and it was wonderful.”

Steve made a strangled sound and Danny glanced over at him, eyebrow raising questioningly. “What’s your problem?”

“Nothing? You received nothing?”

“Nothing,” Danny confirmed as Steve’s eyes grew wider and he shifted frantically in his seat, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “What’s wrong with you - “

“Oh god,” Steve cut him off. “I hit the wrong name. I sent the picture to Denning.”

Before he could stop him, Danny snatched the phone out of his hand and sure enough, there was the picture of Steve in bed, the stuffed animal hugged tightly to his chest with a goofy smirk on his face, eyes closed in pretend sleep. Danny’s lips twitched as he tried to hold back the laughter at first, but at the realization his partner had just been hit with karma, he let it go, howling. Steve sunk down in his seat, snatching the phone back.

“You sent a picture of yourself cuddling a stuffed animal to Denning?” Danny said, wiping at the tears in his eyes. “You know, babe, if you were hoping to counter the old married couple rumor, texting your boss a picture of you cuddling a stuffed fox dressed like me probably just torpedoed your argument.”

Steve pointed a finger in his face. “Shut it, Danny. I don’t want to hear it.” 

That only made Danny laugh harder.

\-------

Denning laid his phone on his desk, staring at the small device, brow furrowed. He pursed his lips thoughtfully, then shook his head, closing his eyes. 

“I don’t want to know. It’s better if I don’t,” he muttered, reaching for a file.


	16. In Which Grace Learns The Hard Way

“Dad?” The tremble in Grace’s voice made him want to wrap his arms around her, soothe her fears, while clawing out the eyeballs of the men who came across their father-daughter day out and decided they would make excellent bargaining chips. Danny hated being a bargaining chip in the first place; his smaller stature, button up shirts, and loafers seemed to give the impression that he was of weaker stuff than his more intimidating looking colleagues. He didn’t wear thigh holsters and wear an arsenal every time they entered the field, though he took extra ammo and a knife because he was prepared every time. Danny was practical and unassuming and most of the time, he preferred it that way. 

Except in times like these. Especially in times like these, when they not only made him the damsel in distress, but his daughter as well. No one, _not a single person_ , laid a finger on his daughter. Hell hath no fury like a father whose daughter was scared or hurt. 

Sitting back to back with an old pipe between them, Danny turned his hand as best he could and took Grace’s smaller one into his own, squeezing. “I’m going to get us out of here, Monkey. I promise.” Getting out of the zip ties wouldn’t take much with a burst of unnatural strength and leverage, but it was making sure Grace wasn’t injured in the attempt that held him at bay for the moment. 

Then he felt it, the sensation of the sun low on the horizon. In the flurry of activity since the moment things went to hell on the beach, he’d forgotten that it was the day of the full moon. On one hand, people would realize they were missing now - Grace should be at Rachel’s by now, Danny at Steve’s for the night. People would realize they were missing, go out looking. They would find them. However, that would still take time and as every sense in his body now told him, time was not something he had. 

“Okay Grace, we’re going to tighten the zip ties and then we’re going to use the pipe to stretch them as much as possible, put pressure on the weakest spots. It’s going to hurt some, and I am sorry for that, but it’s going to get us out, okay?” Danny told her, tilting to speak to her quietly, fighting to keep the panic out of his voice. 

“Okay,” she said softly. The two of them silently went to work, grasping the ends of the zip ties with some difficulty and pulling them as tight as they could. “Ready?” she asked, lifting her wrist - and his - just enough to give them room to maneuver. 

“I’m read - “ The itch under his skin that indicated the coming change grew in intensity and he grit his teeth, counting to ten before he huffed out a breath. “Okay, now I’m ready. One, two, _three_!” Father and daughter brought their wrist down on the old pipe, pulling away from each other as they did to strain the tough plastic. “Again,” Danny instructed and the pipe made another hollow sound as they tried again. 

“Aga - “ The wave of pain took him by surprise and he doubled forward, trying not to pull Grace backward as he did so. His body would shift, there was no way around it, and it didn’t like being told it couldn’t. Danny blinked several times, tears in his eyes as he rode out the waves of pains, sheer force of will holding the shift at bay.

He couldn’t. Not now, not in front of his baby girl. He couldn’t let her see the freak of nature that he was, couldn’t lose her because she became scared of him. Drawing in a breath, he sat back against the pipe. 

“Dad?” Grace asked softly. His Grace, his Monkey, always the perceptive one. 

“I’m fine, Gracie. We’re going to try this again, all r-” Mid-sentence, he let out a sharp curse and bent forward again as another wave of pain stole his breath away. His body laying out an ultimatum - if he didn’t shift of his own accord, it would force him to do it. He licked his lips and rest his forehead against his upraised knees, weighing his options. When it came to the shift, there was one good thing about it. 

“Look, Grace, something is going to happen and I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry,” he told her, his voice straining, trying to keep the emotion from overwhelming him. “When it does, you’ll be able to slip loose and I want you to run. I want you to run as far from here, as fast as you can. Do you understand me?” 

“But da-”

“No, Grace. You will do _exactly_ as I say.” The snarl came into his voice unbidden and he felt Grace go still behind him. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Just do as I say, Grace. Please trust me. Just do this one thing for me. I swear, I’m only trying to keep you safe. I would never do anything to hurt you.” The words tumbled over one another as he felt his body gear up for another wave of pain, this one promising to be worst than the last. If he didn’t shift soon, the fox would force its way out. He squeezed Grace’s hand, the touch lingering, and just as the wave of pain started to hit, he let go of her hand and of his human form, the shift taking over. 

The time spent with his Five-0 teammates on the full moon, the extra shifting in between, the practice made the shift less painful, an easier if still uncomfortable flow as bones, muscle all changed. He heard Grace gasp behind him as the fur appearing along his skin brushed against her wrists. His body grew smaller until his paws slipped loose of the bonds and he tumbled forward, a pile of legs and bushy tail buried in a t-shirt and board shorts. 

Grace shot up from where she sat, the zip ties slipping off her wrists. Her eyes grew wide and she stumbled back, hand shooting up to cover her mouth as she stared at him. Danny lay absolutely still, heart thundering in his chest. _Run, Gracie!_ He wanted to urge her to go so badly but he couldn’t find the right way to communicate. 

“D-dad?” Her voice shook and she stayed rooted to the spot. He rose to his feet, struggling out of the clothing, shaking out his fur, then took a tentative step forward. Grace drew in a breath and then crouched down, putting her hand out to him. “Is that - what happened?” she asked softly. He approached slowly, then brushed his snout against her hand, snuffling against her palm. She giggled lightly at the ticklish sensation. 

_Come on, kid. We need to get out of here._ He put his head down, putting it against her knee, then turned and ran for the door. Grace quickly picked up on the game of Follow the Leader and racing along the halls after him. All her running with Steve came in handy as he kept an ear out for approaching enemies, an eye on the shadows. She kept up at his heels, quiet and obedient, following him as he raced the twisting halls. 

A loud bang, gun shots. Shouting. Danny pulled up short and immediately turned on Grace, herding her back towards the wall. She crouched down, arms around her knees, breath coming and going in shallow gasps, her heart thundering in fear. His ears perked up at the sound of footsteps and he whirled around to see two gunmen come around the corner, coming to collect their bargaining chip.

His ears went flat against his head and his lips pulled up, teeth bared as he snarled at them. The two stopped in surprise and Danny took advantage to sprint towards them, gathering all his strength in his hindquarters to leap at them, claws out. In a furious flurry of fur and claws, careful to avoid any contact with his teeth, he raced around them, drawing blood where he could, sending them into a confusing frenzy so they wouldn’t notice the young girl crouched down the hall. 

_Grace, go! Get out of here, run away! Just get somewhere safe!_ Grace’s safety drove him on, swipes becoming increasingly more vicious, until he was snagged by the scruff and lifted off the ground. 

“Just kill it so we can grab the cop and his kid,” one man swore through the knit ski mask he wore, holding Danny at arm’s length as he spit and snarled and swiped, body swinging in the air. Just a little higher and he’d catch his wrist, get him to drop him. 

He saw the flash of the knife out of his peripheral vision and fought even harder, this time fear fueling his fight as well as his anger, the desire to protect his kit. _Child. Cub. Child. Cub. Child. Cub._ The words meant the same thing. His Grace, his reason for being, his everything. The knife came closer and Danny snarled louder, lashing out, ready to bite if he had to out of desperation.

Then an elbow came down on the arm, sending the knife flying, and the hand slammed backwards into the masked face. Steve, his face a mask of fury, brought his gun up and around to point blank in the second man’s face. “Put. The Fox. _Down_ ,” he growled, his voice calm and even more terrifying for it.

Of course, the asshole decided that putting him down meant dropping him. Luckily, foxes seemed to be part feline and Danny landed on his feet with minimal stumble. He turned and raced down the hall, towards the room where he and Grace had been held before. 

The moment he found her, Grace threw her arms around him and held tightly, her body shaking. Danny tried his best to hug her back, paws resting on her shoulders, cheek to cheek with her. Steve came a moment later, dropping down onto his knees and putting an arm around Grace to pull her close. Careful not to dislodge Danny from his position, he drew him close too, hugging them both tightly. “You two attract more trouble…” he said, trailing off as he laughed weakly, such a telling sign of the panic he’d felt when he heard they were missing. 

Danny nuzzled his cheek, then returned to checking on Grace. She pulled away slightly from Steve, wiping at her face as she stared at Danny. The lightbulb flickered on over Steve’s head as he glanced back and forth between furry father and human daughter. “I, uh,” he started. Danny’s head bobbled in defeat as he laid on the ground, trying to look as unthreatening as possible. “Grace, your father is a, uh, werefox.” 

The last thing Danny expected to see on her face was the flicker of hurt. “How long?” she asked Steve, realizing he was the only one she could get answers from at the moment.

Steve held up five, then six, then seven fingers for Danny, the last earning a yip of agreement. “Seven years.” 

Grace rubbed at her eyes again and got to her feet. “He always talks about being honest with each other and communicating,” she said quietly, as if he wasn’t even there, and Danny felt his heart shatter. Much like the lessons he tried to impart in her, the emphasis on trust and honesty, he hadn’t reciprocated and worse, he’d never once thought of his secret as a betrayal of such. 

Kono appeared in the doorway in that moment and Grace shot past Steve and Danny to wrap her arms around her. “I want to go home. Please?” she begged Kono softly, looking up at her. Kono looked towards Steve, who nodded to her, mouth set in a grim line. Danny rose to a sitting position, ears down, trying to make himself as small as possible. 

“Come on,” Kono said gently, leading Grace from the room. Danny stared at the empty doorway, making a mournful sound in place of the disheartened curse he wanted to. Steve glanced his way, then scooped him up, holding him close against his kevlar. 

“Give her time, buddy,” he murmured softly, rising to his feet, “and an apology when you can.”


	17. In Which Forgivness Is Pending And Chocolate Is Stolen

Grace spent the morning avoiding him, joining forces with Nahele at the Easter egg hunt Kamekona set up around his food truck for children that came from less fortunate households. Kame was proud of his plan, boisterously announcing his presence in Five-0’s headquarters to wrangle volunteers. He received more than he expected, Kono’s expression brightening for the first time in a bad day, Chin grinning from ear to ear, Steve fairly bouncing on his feet and excitedly sending a text to Nahele (he’d already volunteered to help his employer and roommate, but he was glad Steve thought of him too), and Lou and Danny immediately thought of their own daughters. Samantha and Grace needed no convincing. 

That was before the full moon and Grace still hasn’t spoken to him. As Danny crouched down beside a little boy who struggled to open one of his eggs, he watched Grace and Nahele run by, a little girl dragging them both along. She smiled, but he could see the circles under her eyes and the concerned look Nahele sent her way. Since Steve adopted the kid, Nahele not only adapted to their little family, but took it upon himself to watch out for Grace and Samantha like they were his little sisters. They reciprocated by taking great delight in teasing him like sisters, something which brought a smile to his face when he tried to be annoyed. 

“Look at that!” Danny stated proudly as he finally broke open the egg and produced a shiny quarter, which he placed in the little boy’s palm with a flourish. The boy’s mouth dropped open, as if he’d just been given a jewel of immense wealth, and Danny couldn’t resist putting an arm around his shoulder to give him a quick one armed hug. “There are plenty more eggs out there. I happen to know the bunny was very busy, so why don’t you go look a little more, okay?” he added kindly, giving him a gentle knock on the shoulder. Carefully tucking the egg away, he tightened his hold on his bag and rushed off to join the other children excitedly searching every nook and cranie of Magic Island. 

Kamekona wandered up to him, nose slightly wrinkled as if he’d caught wind of something he didn’t like. “Hey. You seen that bag of candy we didn’t finish using? I found some extra eggs,” he said, producing the brightly colored plastic containers. “Figured it might be you that took ‘em. McGarrett says little candies aren’t safe around you.”

If it had been any other time and less on his mind, Danny might have had a sarcastic retort, but he only shook his head. So sue him, it wasn’t like the Peppermint Patties disappeared from Steve’s fridge unless he helped himself. Instead, he dug his hand in the pockets of his jeans and came out with a handful of change. “They might like these better. Buy some candy or something else they really want.” He shrugged. “My grandparents used to do the same. We always liked finding those eggs more than the candy ones.”

Kamekona took the change. “Yeah, but you predate major inflation. Change don’t buy what it used to,” he said, dropping a few coins in each egg and shutting them. “Go be helpful. I gotta make sure Flipper isn’t trying to flirt with free meals again.” He dumped the handful of eggs into Danny’s hands and headed off. Nearing the truck, he bent down to speak quietly to a little girl. She took off towards a tree, reached under a twisted root, then excitedly held up a blue egg.

Danny trotted off towards places that hadn’t had much traffic, setting the eggs somewhat in sight, easily accessible to the little ones. Not long after he planted one in a close of bushes, Nahele followed brother and sister over, both tugging him by the hands. “‘lo, Detective Williams,” he said, grinning widely.

The kid changed so damn much from when he made the mistake of stealing the old Marquis. Under Steve and Kamekona’s influence, he found a place to stay, returned to school and excelled, worked hard. He smiled more and more and he actually got to be a kid. Returning the smile, Danny lightly punched his shoulder. “It’s Danny to you, kid. We’re family here.” Nahele ducked his head and glanced back to the kids, cheeks a little pink. He still wasn’t quite used to the inclusion.

Once the rest of the eggs were hidden, Danny scanned around, watching team members, Duke, Lynn, Samantha, and a few other friends assisting kids of all ages find and open their eggs. He finally spotted Grace, the little boy she’d just helped taking off towards his friends, hovering near the truck. Danny walked across the way, trying to seem as subtle as possible, until he could slide a hand under her elbow. “Hey, can we talk?” he asked softly.

Grace hesitated, then dropped her head and nodded. To his surprise, she led the way, finding a bench away from the action for them to sit and talk. She clasped her hands between her knees, shoulders hunching up. The awkwardness radiating off her made Danny’s heart squeeze and he leaned forward, staring at the ground. 

“Grace, what happened the other night, what I didn’t do,” he said quietly, shaking his head, “I’ve done a lot of thinking these last few days and I am truly sorry. I let my fear override common sense and I never gave you a chance.” Danny looked over at his daughter, growing so fast these days that sometimes he wished she would slow down before she became an adult the next time he blinked. “I was...I was very scared when it happened to me and I assumed that everyone would see it the same.”

Grace reached over, taking his hand and squeezing. “You tell me that we’re supposed to be honest with each other, dad,” she said quietly, fidgeting with a strand of hair before tucking it behind her ear, “and I know that doesn’t mean absolutely everything, but...it hurts a little that you didn’t trust me.”

Danny’s eyes widened and he dropped her hand quickly to pull her into a tight hug. “No, Gracie, no no no,” he said quickly. “No, it wasn’t trust. It was...I thought I was a monster, a freak, and if you looked at me the same, I couldn’t take it.” Just the thought now tore him apart and that was after Grace’s seeming acceptance of the fact. 

“Dad.” Grace pulled back. “That’s kinda not trusting me. You didn’t mean to not trust me but you thought I wouldn’t…” She shrugged and ducked her head again. “You told everyone you work with before me.”

He drew in a breath to speak, then his shoulders deflated. “Uncle Steve was...it was to save his life and yes, after that, I told the rest of the team. I should have told you, Grace, and I let my dear dictate what I did when I should have trusted you. You have grown up so much, Grace, and I need to remember that you are a mature, smart young lady with a good head on your shoulders. _Most times._ ” Grace tilted her head, giving him a sideways annoyed look at the reference to Halloween, but the small smile was still there. “Can you forgive me for that?” 

“Your apology is noted, acceptance is pending.” The smile appeared slowly as Danny’s jaw dropped. 

“Where did you - “

“Uncle Steve. He also wants to know if his apology has been accepted for getting you hurt yet,” Grace replied in a light, sing songy voice. Danny wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly, and this time Grace hugged him tightly back, laughing. “I love you, Danno.”

“I love you too, Monkey.” 

“Also, about honesty? Do you think Nahele would be a good first date?” Danny sputtered and pulled back.

“Look, Grace, Nahele is a good kid and yes, I would approve, but you are not ready to - not old enough to - dating?” he stated, hands moving around at a rapid rate. 

Grace burst out laughing. “Chill out. I really like Nahele and he’s cute but he’s like Uncle Steve’s adopted son and that’s weird to think about dating him,” she said, standing up and leaning go down to kiss him on the cheek. “Now we’re even.” Despite hanging his head, Danny smiled as he shook his head while she ran off to rejoin her adopted brother. 

He felt someone sit down next to him. “It’s good to see you and Grace talking again. It’s unnatural to see you not,” Steve said as he scrutinized the two kids speaking to each other. Danny nodded in slow agreement.

“It was. It was Hell honestly,” he agreed, turning to look at Steve. As he did, he caught the faint whiff of something as Steve huffed out an agreement and grabbed his face, leaning in to smell. “You _animal_. You stole the rest of the chocolate?” 

Steve’s eyes went wide. “There were no eggs left and it was just sitting there,” he sputtered, struggling to get loose from Danny. Instead, Danny kept a firm hold on him, supernatural strength keeping him in place while he stuck his hands in the pockets of his cargo shorts. He came out with the bag, turning it over to find there was nothing left. 

“You, Mr. My Body Is A Temple, did not eat all of these al-”

“Chin, run! He’s figured it out!” Steve shouted and Danny turned to see the lieutenant pausing next to the truck, eyes widening as he saw Danny look his way, then turning to run. Danny jumped up from the bench, kicking off his flip flops and sprinting bare footed across the grass after him. 

Nearby, Kono burst out laughing as Danny took Chin to the ground, hands searching the pockets of his jeans until he came out with a handful of chocolate and, while still settled on Chin, began to contentedly, and noisly, enjoy the chocolate. Kono, not having been on on the chocolate heist either, went to her cousin’s side - and sat on his knees while Danny shared the chocolate with her. “Steve! Help!” 

Steve shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry, buddy, you’re on your o-” He let out a help as he tumbled off the bench and suddenly Nahele, Samantha, and Grace were on him, searching for and finding every ticklish spot they could exploit. Steve tried to curl up in a ball, yelping for help.

Nearby, Lou and Kamekona each recorded a scene in their phones. “Just another day in the office,” Lou said, chuckling as he elbowed Kamekona.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Easter to those who celebrate and Happy Sunday to everyone else!


	18. In Which The Youngest Cub Is Sick and Danno Is On Watch

Charlie lay so still, so pale against the white hospital sheets, small body radiating heat from the high fever that ravaged. Danny reached out to stroke the hair back from his forehead, slick with sweat, and his son didn’t even move. He hadn’t even acknowledged his presence since he arrived, too deep in a fitful sleep that manifested in quiet whimpers and little shudders from time to time. Danny stayed at his side, the hours he lost track of, chair pushed as close to the bed as possible after the nurse (politely) kicked him off, knees drawn up, small hand grasped between his, thumb stroking soothingly over the back of it. 

In the background, the TV played cartoons on a low volume, anything to fill the quiet except for the beep of the machines hooked up to his son. Numerous tubes and lines wound down from them, needles taped firmly to the crook of his arm. When he first stepped into the room, his heart accelerated so fast from the mere sight of his son that he needed to lean against the doorframe. Rachel refrained from coming to him because Stan stood at her side, attempting to be cordial and civil for the sake of Charlie and the possibility that maybe his marriage wasn’t entirely over. God help both of them. 

Not that long ago, Danny sent his exhausted ex-wife out of the room to go get something to eat and maybe some coffee, the dark circles under her eyes and the sheer exhaustion on her face making him wonder how much longer she would last. A small perk to his condition, he could go longer than the average human in a few ways and for once, he was thankful for it. The fox paced uneasily in the back of his mind, sensing that its cub was in trouble and that it was useless, as useless as the human side of Danny was. He could only wait and hope, not fight the physical demons that tormented Charlie’s little body. He wished he could so badly. 

After finding out that Charlie was his son, Danny called the only shifter that he knew, breaking his one rule. The woman never really liked him, the big cat shifter regarding him as prey that she was forbidden from eating. Still, she knew things and the terror that he’d passed his condition along to his son overrode his dislike. Fortunately, there were only two ways to become a shifter: a bite (not a scratch as popular media would have someone believe) or through the mother. Shifters, when running in groups, were matrilineal; only the egg, not the sperm, was strong enough to carry the extra genetic material required to make a natural born shifter. 

And, as she’d stated after, women were just clearly better.

So while that eased the terror that he’d passed it along to his son, it left him wondering at times if maybe, just maybe, if Charlie had inherited it, would he be this sick now? It wasn’t as if they had the rapid healing that popular media once again lied about, but they were sturdy creatures. Would that go for illnesses too? 

Charlie let out a soft whimper and shifted in his sleep, startling Danny from his thoughts and he leaned forward to rest a hand against his cheek, then his shoulder. “Hey buddy, it’s all right. Danno’s here,” he murmured. Where the nickname was once Grace’s alone (and Steve’s when he’d taken it by force, the way he had Danny), she quietly gave her blessing for Charlie to use the name as well, a step towards the acceptance of sharing her father where he had once only been hers. 

He rest his free arm on the side of the bed, head on his hand. “You know, I once had a really nasty fever like you,” he said quietly, then turned to make sure the room was still empty. Rachel said she would text when they were ready to come back to see if he wanted anything. Amazingly enough, his appetite was non existent for once, stomach too twisted with worry for Charlie. “It was so bad that when they couldn’t find a thing wrong with me, they wondered if I was going to die.” He chewed on his bottom lip. “I didn’t and you? You’re stronger than me, little man. You’re going to beat this and be up playing with the brand new firetruck your father bought you…” _father_ for Stan, _danno_ for Danny, “in no time.” 

Danny slumped in his chair, rubbing a hand over his face. Powerless. He felt absolutely powerless and he loathed it. For all that he called Steve a control freak, he preferred to have control in his own life and there was so much anymore that wasn’t. If he could trade his life for his kids to have a better healthier life, for his parents to have Matt back, for the people he cared about to just be _happy_ , he would do it in a heartbeat. Lately, he felt so tired and defeated, barely attached to his world, that his self-worth tanked out somewhere well over a year ago.

And now he was getting depressing. Again. Sighing, Danny squeezed Charlie’s hand again. “You know, I think the worst part about the fever was being covered in sweat,” he started, hoping talking to his son would bring some comfort.

\-----------

The lights were too damn bright, the smell of antiseptic overwhelming him so much that he wanted to vomit, the sound of the heart monitor dragging him out of a miserable deep sleep with the intense need to smash the machine to pieces across the floor. But really, all those things were minor annoyances compared to the misery he felt, his skin burning hot while his shoulder felt like someone tore it to shreds. No, Freddy Krueger. It was definitely Freddy Krueger.

He tried to move his hand and wasted most of his energy moving the oxygen mask off his face - and only succeeded in slapping himself in the face with it. The soft grunt he made succeeded in rousing the bedside occupant, who shot to his feet and started to fiddle with the mask immediately.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Danny? First thing you do when you wake up is try to get rid of the thing giving you a hand?” Matt muttered, rolling his eyes at the elder Williams. 

“Wheres he?” Danny slurred, trying to keep the mask away so he could talk. Unfortunately, Matt could easily wrestle his hand away and he couldn’t even do a single push up. “Ima kick Freddy’s ass.”

Matt frowned down at him. “Freddy?”

“Krueger. Beat that putz down good for this.” He thought he motioned to the deep ache he felt rather saw, when in reality, his hand continued to lay there. Complete lapse of communication, much like his marriage. 

“Krueger? No, you got into a fight with someone’s pet jungle cat. You don’t remember?”

His face scrunched up in thought but try as he might, he couldn’t get past the haze created by drugs, sickness and exhaustion. “Nope,” he muttered, his eyelids starting to sink down again. He was too damn tired for the waking world right now.

“Shit, bro. You only got the hell torn out of you, bottomed out twice from blood loss, made that rookie with you burst into tears, and then had the indecency to sleep two days away in a deep fever before waking up to tell us you were working on getting better. How do you not remember that?”

“Is ma here?”

“She’s getting some coffee. Why?”

“I’m gonna go back to sleep but you tell her I told her to yell at you for yelling at me all right? All right.” With that final statement made, he let his eyes close. “I say good day, sir.”

Before he drifted off, he heard Matt mutter, “...what?”

\-------

_He ran through the forest, night alive with sounds and scents. It always came alive more in the night than in the day and he thrived on it, inhaling the warm air that swept through trees and underbrush to lead him to his prey._

_There. Crouching down, he scuttled closer on his belly, eyeing the rabbit that continued to graze, unaware of the threat downwind. He waited, tensing, as the rabbit lazily hopped closer, closer, closer._

_Pouncing, he caught the creature before it knew what happened, jaws closing around the neck and biting down hard, holding on as all the life drained from the animal, the taste of blood dancing across his tongue…_

\---------

Two days later, the fever knocked down a few notches, Danny used the remote to peruse late night TV. Of course, it was mostly infomercials that he could recite forwards and backwards by now, but it was something other than the chilling silence that settled on the hospital during the night. He hated hospitals, hated them so passionately, and that did nothing to ease his insomnia.

As he flipped past yet another workout advertisement - that dad would be over in a month - he heard _something_ , a soft whisper that he might have missed during the day. He tracked it to its source and froze, finger hovering over the call button for the nurse.

The fox tilted it's head, gazing up at him with unusual blue eyes. Man and animal regarded each other before the fox turned tail and darted from the room. 

He really should have called the nurse, alerted her to a wild animal loose in the place (how did that even happen?), but his body had a mind of its own. Slowly, he slipped from the bed, his weak muscles protesting at the use, but his curiosity was stronger. 

Danny shuffled out into the hall, empty on either side of his room, and spotted the animal down by the nurse’s desk. Waiting patiently, it didn’t disappear in him this time as he cautiously approached. Slowly, he crouched down, feeling everything protest, and held out his hand.

The fox showed no fear, instead coming right up to him, rubbing against his hand, his knees, chirping happily. Enthralled, Danny ran his hand over its back, under its chin, until it worked around again to look up at him, face to face. Danny swore under his breath and fell back, hitting his rear.

Those eyes were familiar because that was his eye color. No animal on earth could…

The animal pressed forward again, climbing into his lap, staring straight at him, eye to eye, and Danny’s breath stopped. 

Then he felt it. The caress of fur under his skin, the smell of the forest, so alive and full, the instinct to hunt, to protect, to run. So many thoughts, so many unnatural to the human mind, everything louder and brighter, stronger. He slammed his eyes shut, hands over his ears, but it only muffled it slightly. 

“Detective Williams?” The voice broke through the pandemonium in his head, loud despite the gentle nature of the tone. Danny opened an eye to look up at the nurse standing over him, concern in her eyes. She quickly knelt to check on him and he could see another nurse leaning over the desk to see what was going on. Suddenly the hospital had more life to it than a few minutes ago, the usual for the night shift.

He blew out a breath, his body shivering. “I’m fine,” he stated, deciding in a moment of spontaneity to forgo telling them what he’d just seen. “I was too restless to sleep and tried for a walk and well, that went as to be expected,” he added, waving to where he sat on the floor. Even his own tired laughter was loud on his ears and he cringed, shaking his head. “Really, I’m fine…”

\-------

Danny smiled fondly down at his son. “A few weeks later, your pops turned into a fox. Still doesn’t know why, but he does,” he said softly. “But that’s how I know that you’re going to come out of this stronger than ever before, buddy. Because you’ll beat it and it’ll know never to mess with you again.” 

It was a nice thought but given Charlie’s condition, they could only hope for more good news than bad and that someday, the doctors would tell them that he was free and clear. Until then, he had all the love and support of family, both nuclear, extended, and adopted as he kept up the fight.

Charlie started to shift again in his sleep, whining uncomfortably again. Shooting a glance towards the door, Danny then kicked off his shoes and carefully eased into the bed, letting his son curl up to him. The position made him feel more protective, as if maybe the disease had an outside physical form that he could keep watch for and away. It was ridiculous, but it seemed to help Charlie, who settled back into sleep.

“Rest easy, cub. Poppa fox is watching out for you,” he whispered and kissed the top of his little blonde head.


	19. In Which Max Hides His Secrets Well

“Max, it is too damn early for looking at dead bodies,” Danny grumbled as he shuffled into the Medical Examiner’s office, extra large coffee in hand as he scrolled back through his text messages. “What is this thing that - “ He stopped dead, staring at the empty desk, then turned slowly in place to take in the entire room. Satisfied that Max would not pop out of the woodwork as he’d done on occasion, he glanced around the corner of the doorway into the actual morgue, finding it just as empty. “You’re not even here to tell me about. Of course not.” 

He headed back to Max’s desk, bypassing one of the chairs in front to make himself at home in Max’s chair, leaning back. The coffee cup sitting on the desk, he closed his eyes and exhaled deeply, making himself comfortable. 

Some time later, amount undetermined, he felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle, followed by the feeling of being watched, and his eyes fluttered open to find Max staring down at him in annoyance, arms crossed defensively over his chest. “Detective Williams, please leave my chair,” the ME stated evenly, then moved aside so Danny’s path would be unobstructed. 

“How did you - “ Danny rolled his eyes, heaved a sigh, and rose to his feet, collecting his cup before he moved out of Max’s way. With his hearing, it was near impossible for people to sneak up on him and yet, Max still managed to do it. “Nevermind. What did you need to talk to me about? Please tell me it has to do with that robbery because the leads are drying up faster than water in the Sahara.” 

Max settled down at his desk, then as Danny watched, mystified, he made a point of leaning back and rubbing his back against the chair. “Max, what are you doing? You’re acting like -” 

“Your scent is all over my things?” Max replied, tilting his chin up challengingly. Danny froze, mouth open slightly, heart rate rising slightly. 

“‘scuse me?” 

“Your scent. Your scent that has become much stronger as of late. It was quite easy to ignore before. Are you shifting more?” Max asked as if it was an everyday topic of conversation they were discussing, like the Yankees’s next season or what cases were on the Five-0’s docket. This, however, was not a topic of everyday conversation and Danny bristled, leaning over the desk to thrust a finger in Max’s face.

“Who told you?” he demanded, finding it hard to believe someone had broken that silence, but needing to know if there had been a slip. Then again, being Max, maybe he’d picked up on something. Or… “What did Jerry tell you? Look, I just happen to be a naturally hairy person, which does not mean that on full moon nights, I get even _hairier_ , nor do I sh - “ He stopped cold as Max took the finger pointing at him and leaned forward, casually sniffing at his wrist. “Stop that!” He yanked his arm back and quickly backed up a few steps. 

“A canine of some sort?” Max asked casually, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he studied Danny the same way he studied a corpse on the table. Danny held up a hand. 

“No, stop. This is not happening.” He held up his arm, pinching at the skin. “I know that I did not put out an APB on this.” He went absolutely still, then pointed at Max. “What are _you_? You don’t even smell,” he accused, wagging his finger at Max. Storming forward, he leaned over the desk again, trying to get close to smell. “Seriously, you smell like human, chemicals and...mango for breakfast, huh?” However much he tried though, there was no scent he came to associate with another shifter, neither strong nor light. 

Giving him a smile, Max leaned back to pull a bottle from the bottom desk drawer and set it between them. Danny picked the small, unlabeled bottle up, rolling it between his fingers. The clear liquid rolled around the sides. “What is this?” 

“I am a scientist, Detective Williams. I do other things than just tell the stories of the dead, including find ways to hide, to keep myself safe,” he replied, casually clasping his hands on the desk. Danny set the bottle down on the desk and pulled a chair closer, sitting down. 

“So what does that mean? You made yourself a scent blocker?” he asked, putting two and two together, reading between the lines. “And that still doesn’t answer the question of _what are you_? You tell me, I tell you.” 

Max replaced the bottle in the drawer and pushed it closed. “Yes, I block my scent, but my status is known on the island so that any of our kind who may need medical help caused by...difficult circumstances to explain...can come to me, as you now know you can,” he added, motioning to Danny. “I must keep myself safe so that others stand a chance as well.” 

“Still not answering my question,” Danny muttered, his mental wheels spinning as he tried to take it all in. 

“What I am is not important here, detective. I asked you to come here so we could speak. Your, ah, shifter nature has been more noticeable in your recent visits here, to the point where I finally knew for certain that you were. Yet it seems you don’t know much about yourself.” 

He shot him a dry look before taking a sip of his coffee. “You gathered all that from our brief visits,” he deadpanned. 

“I gathered it from the growing canidae scent about you in the last few months, as if you have been embracing it more than usual, even exploring it,” Max stated, “and if that’s so, then you need to know about the community here in O’ahu.”

Danny held up his hand. “Look, I don’t need to be a member of a community like this is a...more than normal thing for me,” he allowed, “and yes, I have been shifting more because in doing so, it’s less painful on the full moons and it’s made my senses sharper to...you know, get along with the fox, but that doesn’t mean I want to learn the secret handshake and get recipe tips from Shifter Home Journal, you know?” He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, staring at the desktop. “It’s not going to cause a problem, is it? Not signing up for group?”

Sighing, Max leaned back, steepling his fingers. “No, but I would strongly recommend reconsidering, given the outside threats.” When Danny’s eyebrows rose, he shook his head. “No knowledge of those who hunt our kind?” 

“I’m careful,” Danny snapped defensively, then slumped in his chair. “Look, I don’t go around flaunting it. I am very careful when I do,” _mostly_ , “and there are very, very few people who know and I trust them explicitly. Should a situation arise that requires discretion, I will help, but until then, I would prefer to be left alone with my skulk and my cubs.” He rose from his chair. “And if that’s all, I have a job to be getting to and an excuse to make up because I do not out others,” he added over his shoulder.

A moment of silence followed before Max spoke up again. “Squirrel,” he told Danny, tilting his head to the side and squinting at his back, “and you are a sneaky, clever little vulpine. A fox from the terminology that has entered your vocabulary.” He smiled again, this time an almost affectionate smile that didn’t quite sit well with Danny. “You truly are becoming one with your other nature, detective.”

Danny bristled, held up his finger, drew a breath, then scowled at Max. “I am not - “

“Your scent is all over Commander McGarrett, by the way. Slightly lesser over Lieutenant Kelly and Officer Kalakaua. Afraid of competition?” 

Danny’s scowl grew. “It was an accident if it is, all right? So just...shut up,” he demanded, grabbing the doorknob, “and not a word out of you unless it’s an emergency, all right? I am not becoming one with the fox and we are perfectly happy with our own corners and...things.” He yanked the door open. “So we’ll just leave it at that, thank you very much.” Feeling that he made his final statement clear, he marched out the door and slammed it behind him.

Then hesitated in the hall. Spinning around on his heel, he opened the door and poked his head through, earning an arched eyebrow from Max. “And I do not appreciate being lured into meetings under false pretenses. You can make it up to me with garlic shrimp from Kamekona’s. Double order, don’t let him skimp on the protein,” he stated, then ducked back out and shut the door again, turning to walk down the hall.

“Becoming one with my other nature,” he snorted softly. “Right. Good one, Max.”


	20. In Which A Stolen Car Leads To Deeper Issues

Grace’s Facebook touted several pictures of her and Charlie that morning, proclaiming a happy National Siblings’ Day to the best little brother ever. Danny proudly shared the images to his own page, which barely received any attention unless sharing news about his kids for friends and family back home. His timeline boasted a visual growth chart which started with Grace alone and as of late, Charlie, his kids growing in leaps and bounds in mere months. Likes and comments rolled in, grandparents and aunts and uncles cooing over how cute they were. 

Then the new post. 

Stella must have found the picture buried in a box in her closet somewhere. She, as a child, beamed for the camera, her hair representing the worst of 80s hairstyles, as she sat cross-legged on the ground, holding their youngest sister in her arms. Danny sat beside her, clearly in a punk phase in ratty old jeans and a ripped t-shirt, scowling at the camera in annoyance. Behind them, the one that felt like a shot through Danny’s heart, Matt pulled a goofy face, arms flung out like he’d jumped in the picture last minute. The Williams Siblings.

How fucking long was this supposed to keep hurting him? Every time he saw a picture of his brother being ridiculous, as seemed to be his default, rarely serious, every time he focused on him rattling off about something inane to keep Danny’s mind off his divorce and Rachel moving their daughter across the country, another man spending more time with her as her father than he did, the images rapidly turned dark and all too clearly, he could see that dank basement, the barrel, smell the must and the decay. The failure weighed heavily on his shoulders all over again and the depression crept in, jagged fingers tugging at his mind.

He needed out of his head and _now_. There was only one way he could think of to accomplish it, which involved a long drive out to where the island remained mostly untouched by civilization. Finding a place to park, he disappeared into the trees until he found a thick enough copse of bushes and ducked into them, stripping down and leaving his clothes in a neat pile before he shifted. While most days he refused to let the fox have any more control than it needed to, today he could relinquish it for a few hours if it stopped him from lying in bed all day, buried underneath the covers and too exhausted, too beaten mentally and emotionally to move.

A year later and it wasn’t that much easier to carry. He wondered if it ever would.

His feet were surprisingly swift as he raced through the woods, bounding over fallen branches, ducking under bushes, chasing random wildlife before swerving away at the last moment, more interested in the exertion of the chase than the actual finish. He was still, after all, part human and uninterested in killing something with his teeth. The world came alive so vibrantly around him that for a while, he forgot everything except the chase, the run, letting his shifter instincts run wild, stretch their legs. While it wasn’t the peaceful calm of hitting the waves alone, it brought him a new kind of mental static, white noise more soothing than irritating. 

By the time the sun shifted over the trees to begin its descent down, he’d started back to where he’d left his things, keeping a steady but weary trot. Close to the bushes, he picked up a foreign scent that hadn’t been there before, going absolutely still, listening, watching. Nothing moved except leaves and underbrush in the light wind blowing through and he didn’t pick up anything out of place. Staying low to the ground, he crept over to his place, the scent growing stronger. Humans. Two of them.

And everything was gone.

No, not everything. His phone tumbled out of his pocket when the unwanted guests took his clothing with them, partially buried in leaves. He nosed it out, wiggling back through the bush, and stared at it apprehensively. Great. Wonderful. Here he was, no wallet, no clothes, no _car_ , out in the middle of nowhere and with limited choices to boot. While he’d wanted something to distract him from his broken heart, this was most certainly not one of the options he was okay with. 

Huffing, he pawed at the screen, trying to unlock the screen. The phone chirped in confusion, his paw pads screwing up the sensitivity, so he pressed his nose to it and tried to swipe that way. Eventually, he found that if he did it lightly and quick, it approximated a finger well enough to do the job. Hitting the Phone button turned out to be easier, then Steve’s number. The line rang twice before it picked up.

“‘lo?” 

Danny stared at the phone for a moment, then barked, hoping the tone conveyed annoyance and frustration more than danger. 

“...Danno?” 

A confirming yip. 

“...buddy, I realize that we have spent several full moons together but I have yet to figure out the fox language,” Steve replied, bemused. “What’s going on? Did something happen?” 

Danny let out a string of grumbles, but it was becoming increasingly clear that this wasn’t going to work - as he thought it wouldn’t, but the other option didn’t appeal either. So he took the phone as Steve tried to guess the problem and disappeared into the underbrush again. 

A few moments later, he picked up the phone and held it to his ear. “Babe, you still there?” 

Steve let out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, I’m still here. What’s going on?” 

Cringing, Danny drew his legs up to his body, ankles crossed, as if that would decrease his public nudity. “I let out my wild side for a few hours and when I came back, the world once again took a shit on me and someone stole everything, including my car and my clothes. The only thing they didn’t get was my phone, which they missed.” He rubbed at his brow, growling in frustration. “Any chance I could get a pick up?” 

The silence stretched out for seconds before Steve made a sound that suspiciously resembled a laugh strangled into submission. “You’re nude out in the wild right now?” he asked, his voice strained.

“Steve, I swear to whatever god you hold dear, if you start laughing…” 

A soft snort, followed by an apology that sounded only partially contrite. “I’ll see if Chin will track down your car while I come pick you up.” To his credit, Steve sounded much more restrained. “Hold on to your shirt, Foxy.” Before Danny could snipe back at him, the line went dead. Super SEAL was probably already locking on to the location. 

What seemed like hours later, he heard the rumble of the Silverado’s engine as it approached, then the truck came into view, parking where Danny’s vehicle once sat. Steve jumped out, scanning the trees until Danny stuck his hand in the air, waving to catch his attention. “Just pass the clothes over here and back away. Any deviation from those instructions, including taunts and laughter, will be penalized the next full moon,” he called. 

Donning the blue Navy shirt and a pair of boardshorts, he finally emerged to find Steve waiting with his back turned. His expression when he turned to face Danny was perplexed, no doubt a few questions bouncing around his head. For all that Danny called him a Neanderthal, Steve was anything but. “What?”

“This,” Steve said, indicating the woods around them, “is far from your usual. Hell, I would have come camping with you if you wanted to get in touch with your wild side. What’s going on?” 

Danny scowled at him, picking his way over branches and small rocks that dug into his feet. “Nothing has to be going on, all right? Maybe I just needed to…” He trailed off, throwing his hands out. “I don’t know. I don’t need a reason. Just leave it alone.” That said, he hopped up on the running board of Steve’s truck and pulled the door open, scooting inside. 

Steve joined him a moment later, clearly still wanting to ask but deciding it was better to give Danny his space. For now. When Steve’s SEAL senses started to tingle, he became unusually patient as he waited out the target of his emotional operation. It would only be a matter of time before he kicked the op up a notch and started bribing Danny with pizza just the way he liked it from that shop he considered the most passable on the island. Danny pulled on his seatbelt and slumped down farther in the seat, bare, dirty feet resting on the dashboard. 

Halfway through the trip back, Steve’s phone rang. Chin, on the other end of the line, informed them that Danny’s car was retrieved, along with his belongings. Apparently some transients tried to sell everything they could from it after hijacking it. Steve thanked him and hung up, letting the silence fall again in the vehicle.

“Today is National Siblings’ Day. The stupid thing is it isn’t some real holiday. It’s just something made up to give people another day to celebrate something. Not even Hallmark tries to capitalize on it, its so ridiculous,” Danny finally said, resting his forehead against his knees, closing his eyes. “And I wouldn’t give a shit but Stella, she posts this photo on her Facebook of us as kids and we all look ridiculous but the worst part, there’s Matt. There’s Matt happy and alive and untroubled and all I can think is I let that happy, ridiculous kid down. I was his big brother and I didn’t do enough and now he’s dead.” 

He felt the truck slow down and then heard gravel crunch softly under tires as Steve pulled off the road. The engine cut out and he felt a familiar hand on his arm. “Come on, Danno. Let’s get out and you keep talking.” 

Too tired to argue, Danny stepped out and shuffled over to where the long grass gave way to sand, flopping down and resuming the position of knees pulled tightly to chest, only this time he rest his chin on his knees, staring at the ocean. “I want to hate him sometimes, then I realize that maybe if I’d given him a better reason to trust that I could help him out, he’d still be here.” 

Steve settled next to him, leaning back on his arms. “That’s not true, Danny. You did your best to help him and Matt still chose to run because he was too scared to see rationally. What were you going to do, shoot him? We both know that option wouldn’t turn out either. Maybe even worse.”

“No, we don’t. He might be in jail and he might hate me, but at least some medical examiner wouldn’t have had to piece together his decaying parts on a cold metal table, just seeing a rotting body and not someone who was a good person who made a really dumb mistake,” Danny bit off. “It’s been over a year, over a fucking year, and it doesn’t take much for that to stand out so vividly. All it takes is seeing an oil barrel or a case involving siblings and I’m there and it still hurts.” 

Next to him, Steve shifted position again, only this time he moved closer, sliding an arm around Danny’s shoulders. “It still hurts years later,” he said and beneath that, he could hear the regret, the loss, the memory of the case that brought them together. Steve never talked about it, only the past, the better times when he could, but the rest remained unspoken but present. “It still hurts but I guess you just find a way to soften the blows when they come out of nowhere. Sometimes I think about how Dad would have reacted to Five-0. If he would have been proud of it.” _Of you,_ Danny thought. If John wouldn’t have been, well, the man didn’t deserve to have a son like Steve. 

“I just wanted out of my head for a while. I thought what good is having an animal in your head if you can’t bury yourself for a while and let it do the thinking for a while. It turns out it does work, but not as well as I hoped. The animal is me, I am the animal, all that existential shit.” Unconsciously, he leaned into Steve’s side, taking comfort in just his presence alone. “I’m tired, Steve. I’m exhausted from blaming myself, from wishing I could change it all and knowing I can’t. Some days, I’m just fucking exhausted altogether from everything.” 

Steve remained silent for a full minute before he spoke again. “I think you’re depressed, Danny, and I’ll be honest. We’ve been wondering that for a while now but most days, you make too good of an effort to ask.” 

Danny rolled his eyes. “You know that saying about it takes one to know one? You all know a good cover when you see one because you all do the same. You made it to what? All of one session before you quit group? Chin managed four sessions with the grief counseling. I’m just saying what we’re all thinking - we’re all broken but we don’t want someone telling us how to fix it because we think we’re just fine the way we are. Most days I think I am and then there are days like this. Days were ignoring just isn’t cutting it and I don’t want to burden anyone with how I’m feeling. I don’t even want to acknowledge how I’m feeling.”

“So you turn into an animal, which you stubbornly refused to do more than once a month before. That’s not coping, Danny.” 

“Maybe I don’t want to cope. Maybe I just want to forget that and go back to a life where the worst thing I had to deal with was fighting Rachel for custody. We used to be stupidly naive and innocent once, before everyone started betraying and dying on us.” The words sounded caustic to his own ears and he winced. “Sorry. I’m just...I’m tired. That’s all. I’m tired in a way sleep isn’t going to help because god knows the brain won’t put itself in time out even for that.” He blew out a frustrated breath and ran a hand through his hair. “You know what, forget about it. I don’t need to be putting all this out there. I’ll deal with it and I’ll get ov-” He started to rise, but Steve snagged a leg of his shorts and held him fast. 

“No, you’re on to something.” Danny looked back at him, but Steve didn’t meet his eyes, instead staring at the sand. “We’re not good at this, I know that. But maybe it would be easier if - if we were our group counseling. We already trust each other and let’s face it, we’re willing to help each other carry burdens that we ourselves refuse to put on others. Maybe we get together once a month and we talk. We do it at my place, have dinner, drink a few beers to help ease into it - it’s not my place to make the call, but maybe it’s a good option to put out there. You think that’s something that would help?” Steve finally tilted his head back to look up at him, squinting. “We let us help each other. Team effort.” 

Sighing, Danny sat down heavily again. “Yeah, maybe. I just don’t want to put more weight on anyone else.” Or talk about it. Danny wore his heart on his sleeve, sure, but he wore it on his sleeve for others. The rest was tucked away, out of sight but never fully out of mind. “It depends on what everyone else thinks.” 

“Okay.” Steve sighed. “Yeah, we’ll talk about it on Monday.” He reached up, running his fingers through Danny’s hair as if he was stroking the fox’s fur. “How about you stay with me tonight? I’ve finally got Mary’s room situated as a guest room.” He shrugged a shoulder, looking almost self-conscious. “Or you can curl up next to me. Your choice.” 

Danny’s elbow found it’s way lightly to his ribs. “You lost your stuffed animal, didn’t you?” he asked, trying to lighten the mood a little. What he didn’t expect was Steve’s scowl.

“Let’s just say that Kono is on my ‘no beer list’ right now.” His fingers stopped moving and he held out a small twig to Danny. “And before you start laughing at my misfortune, I will remind you that I had to come rescue your naked rear end from the woods.” 

Plucking the twig from his fingers, Danny flicked it back in his face. “I hate you sometimes, you know that?”

Steve smiled contentedly even as the twig pinged him in the nose. “I love you too, Foxy.”


	21. Flashback #1: The Rabbit And The Fox

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I started writing this, it took place in the first part of season six and I didn't expect to keep wanting to write parts of it. In doing so, I also started thinking back to the other seasons and other scenes that might be fun to add a little bit of werefox in, so I decided to toss in a flashback occasionally for the fun of it!

There were very few people Danny wanted to throttle in life more than good old Step Stan.

As the gates crept open and Grace flew down the driveway towards him, arms spread open wide, Danny was so thrilled to see his little girl that he didn’t notice the plastic carrier she held until he scooped her up in his arms and the wind shifted just enough that he caught the stray scent of rabbit. It must have caught his scent as well because it start to give off a strange high pitched keen. Grace wiggled in Danny’s arms and he set her on the ground so she could set the carrier on the hood of his car.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Hoppy?” she asked, peering at the rabbit with a look of childish concern. Brushing her fingers against the side closest to its face, she then looked up at her father, squinting in the early morning sun. “Danno, I think he’s scared about going to class.” 

_No,_ Danny thought, sighing mentally, _he knows that there’s a predator standing not but a few feet away and he’s pitching a hissy fit because he can’t make a run for it. Because your step father is an idiot who just buys a kid a pet because he has the money to and probably didn’t even stop to consider the care required - not that you, my dear daughter, would ever neglect a living creature, but I highly doubt an eight year old is fully capabl -_ He cut off his mental tirade with a soft curse under his breath, kneeling down next to Grace.

“Mr. Hoppy has nothing to worry about because he is going to be at the front of the class with the smartest, nicest girl in the class and all he has to do is behave himself, isn’t that right?” Danny reached out to gently tap the top of the rabbit’s carrier, which set it off into a fresh set of hysterics and made him jerk his hand back. The quiet growl rumbled through his chest before he caught himself, closed his eyes, and counted to ten. It wasn’t the rabbit’s fault, it wasn’t Grace’s fault. The latter wasn’t aware that she stood next to a werefox, the former was only doing what it’s instincts told it to. “Come on, let’s get you to class so he can settle in for a few moments before everything starts, okay?” 

It was easy enough to ditch the pink bunny he brought along in the backseat before Grace saw it, his daughter too enamored with her new pet. As he watched her extol Mr. Hoppy’s many virtues, he felt a stab through his heart. _Stan gives her this, Stan gives her that. Everything her little heart desires and she gets a biological father who has to make sure to schedule custody around the full moons and lets her sleep in a shitty little apartment that he keeps clear of rats himself._ His secret shame: he was a hell of a mouser when the full moon rose high in the sky. 

Mr. Hoppy continued to hop circles around the small plastic carrier the entire way to the school while Grace tried - and failed - to calm him down. At one point, she opened the top and if possible, the rabbit keened louder, Danny’s sensitive ear drums threatening to burst. As if that wasn’t torture enough, he caught the rabbit’s scent again in the confines of the car, stronger than before, and his stomach rumbled loudly. _My daughter’s pet, you animal. Keep yourself tucked away back there and forget about it. The rabbit gets to live,_ he chastised the animal rustling around at the corners of his mind. 

Although if it didn’t stop soon, he was tempted to reconsider.

By the time he dropped Grace off at school, his ears were ringing and the rabbit was so worked up, he wondered if the influx of young children it would soon be surrounded by would be the tipping point that gave it a heart attack. He gave Grace a kiss on the top of her head, wished her luck, and declined trying to pet Mr. Hoppy again. With his luck, the animal would make a break for it just to get away from him and parents and students alike would be treated to the sight of a father-daughter team chase as the panicked animal raced for freedom. He would not explain that one to Rachel, but he would be telling her that Mr. Hoppy would not be coming along when he had visitation. If it wasn’t the werefox thing, it was the rabbit possibly getting lost in his hellhole of an apartment thing. 

\------------

The clerk looked up from his newspaper as the _haole_ approached his counter, picked up the box full of jerky sticks (the entire box meant for individual sale) and pushed it towards him. “I want the whole thing. Please. With a touch less judgement,” he stated, adding the largest coffee cup they sold next to it. “Also, you wouldn’t happen to know any place that includes rabbit in its entrees, would you?” 

The silence stretched between them, the elderly man peering over the top of his frames at the cop, who started to shift awkwardly. “Yeah, that part about less judgement? Still applies, thank you.” He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. “Just ring that up and forget we had this conversation so I can move on with my miserable day to a dark, dank murder scene of a house.”


	22. In Which Danny Defends Steve's Honor

It was entirely false that Danny felt even the slightest inkling of jealousy when old friends of Steve showed up and made themselves at home in his life. They had friends outside of each other that they spent time with, other lives, and it was to be expected. However, Danny did feel an extremely strong surge of defensive anger on Steve’s behalf when former team members who were once under his command turned up and decided to needle him about being reserves, not active duty. 

The only sign that it bothered Steve was the minute tightening around his mouth and eyes as the arrogant prick of a SEAL named Carl who decided to interrupt their lunch break caustically “joked” with Steve about going soft with island life. While Steve no longer served in sandboxes around the world, he was far from soft and Danny snorted softly as he stabbed at a piece of shrimp with the plastic fork. 

“Let me just interrupt you there,” Danny stated, holding up a hand to stop him with the long suffering aggravation of a man who was constantly denied his right to eat in peace. “This man, this one right here? Is hardly _soft_. If anything, he is as much of a neanderthal animal as the day I met him, maybe even more so. He has not gone soft with island life, he has instead turned the people around him into an insane civilian taskforce. Not lowered his standards to fit, raised,” he added, thrusting his fork pointedly at Carl. The SEAL behind him, a quiet man named Adam, quickly smothered a smile and looked away towards the food truck while Carl leaned forward, hands on the picnic table. 

“And what would you know about what we do, civvie?” he demanded, mouth curling into an ugly smirk that Danny felt entirely too tempted to wipe off his face. He pushed his half-finished plate back, which was when Steve stepped in.

“Danny’s not used to our sense of humor,” he said quickly, holding up a hand to Danny, then shifting his gaze to Carl. “We do this all the time, buddy. Give each other hell.” Danny caught his eye and the two of them had a silent exchange. Steve didn’t want a fuss made; Danny wanted to put the guy in his place. No one gave Steve shit - except for Danny and really, that came from a fond place, not one of trying to demean a former superior for the sake of his own ego. 

“Uh huh. It looks less like humor and more like someone trying to make his dick a few inches bigger than it really is.” Carl’s nostrils flared and Danny felt a thrill of pleasure at landing the blow. Some guys were too easy to piss off with a vague comment that honestly meant nothing. 

“You might want to put a leash on your boy here, McGarrett.” Steve closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly wanting the whole encounter to be over. Well, as much as Danny liked to avoid drama, he had a point to prove. 

“We’re on a lunch break, which means he is not my boss at the moment,” Danny pointed out, then flashed him a predatory grin. “Hey, how about we make a wager? We arm wrestle, right here, right now. I win, you apologize to Steve and acknowledge that he could still kick your ass up and down the deck of a battleship. Putz,” he couldn’t help but add, “and if you win, I stay out of it.”

Adam started to step up. “You know, we really should get going. It was good to see you, Commander McG-” Carl put a hand up to stop him, then crossed his arms and stared down at Danny, sizing him up. 

“You’re on.” 

Danny glanced back to Steve, fighting the urge to give him a mischievous smile. Regardless of what he said, those Navy boys could be observant. “Babe, if you wouldn’t mind?” he asked, waving to his seat. Steve shot him an annoyed look, then clambered to his feet, moving his plate and cup out of the way for Carl to take his spot. 

“Babe. _Babe._ ” Carl took Steve’s spot. “And you’re trying to tell me that you’re not softening here?” 

“I’m from Jersey. We say what we say,” Danny replied, placing his elbow on the table and offering his hand. “Hey. Adam, right? You get over here and count us down.” Carl’s grip was tight on his hand, most likely trying to start a pissing contest on strength alone. Adam set his hand on theirs, expression long suffering.

“Are we ready? One, two, three…” 

Carl’s hand slammed down against the picnic table hard enough to make the plates jump and he winced before shooting Danny a startled look. Danny tightened his grip on him and the other man’s eyes widened a little more. “I win,” he stated simply, holding up his free hand. “Now, you apologize to Commander McGarrett here for being a little ass, then you leave, got it?” he demanded. “I hate people interrupting lunchtime, so believe me, this is the best deal you’re going to get.”

Carl obviously didn’t like being told what to do and despite the fact that he’d just lost horribly to a civilian he’d deemed below him, the defiance still burned through and he opened his mouth to bestow an undoubtedly nasty comment. Rising slowly from his seat, still keeping Carl’s hand pinned, Danny leaned over towards him. As they made eye contact, his eyes flashed unnaturally and he bared his teeth. “ _Apologize and leave_ ,” he rumbled, voice low enough that only Carl would hear the growl in his words.

He enjoyed the way his heartbeat picked up speed, the indecision as to believing what he’d just seen, that he couldn’t possibly see, his brain trying to catch up with his ego as it high tailed into a corner of his mind to lick its wounds. “Sorry, Commander,” Carl finally muttered, rising to his feet and tugging his hand from Danny’s. Danny easily let go and sunk back into his seat, pulling the plate close to start eating again. 

Adam, who had otherwise stay out of the exchange, couldn’t hide his grin as he stepped up to shake hands with Steve. “It was good to see you again, sir,” he said amicably, glancing towards Carl as the man marched off towards the parking lot. “And, uh, you and your partner can expect a nice thank you in the mail from the team. We’ve been waiting for someone to do that for a long time,” he added softly, then withdrew his hand to clap Steve on the back and jogged off to catch up with Carl.

Steve sunk back in his spot, staring across the table at Danny. Danny wrinkled up his nose. “What?” He felt entirely no shame in putting a jerk in his place, especially one that deigned to look down on his best friend, nay, his brother. Best brother friend. 

“You’re ridiculous, Foxy,” Steve muttered. “I could take him, you know.”

Danny held up a finger. “I know you could take him, yes, but he needed to be taken by someone who was not you. Someone trained by you. It was poetic justice,” he explained around a mouthful of food, “and honestly, some good has to come out of the fact that you and your insane training methods have pushed me far beyond the academy’s teachings.” He poked him with his fork. “You okay?” 

Steve snorted. “The day I let someone like Carl bother me is the day I need to retire entirely.” Setting his plate aside, he held up his hand. “Come on, right here, you and me. You’ve never done the full on strength thing and I want to see for myself.”

“Steve, I’m trying to eat - “

“Come on, Danny. Just once. Just a moment.”

“Steve, I really don’t want t-”

“Please?”

“Fine.”

_Wham!_

“Ow.”


	23. In Which "Jersey" Becomes Five-0 And Shifters And Espresso Do Not Mix

No one wanted murders in their town, but when it came to tourist destinations, they became murders that needed to be solved quickly. One dead couple found on a beach in Waikiki by early morning surfers meant that Five-0 dug in their heels and went to work with as much caffeine and food as they could scrounge up. Thirty six hours into the investigation, mired in forensic evidence rushed through the lab, Danny realized the irritable feeling came not from the lack of breaks or the gallons of caffeine coursing through his system, but the full moon. That night.

By the time the sun started to set, still bent over the table, he felt the stirring in his muscles, in his bones. He caught Steve’s look of concern that soon melted into understanding when he checked the calender on his desk. Coming to his door, he peered out at Danny. “Danny, go home. We’ve got this until morning, okay?” he said softly, sympathetic. 

“No,” Danny told him, clasping his hands behind his neck as he shook his head. “No, I’m not going to…” He trailed off, marching across main headquarters to pull a chair away from the table. Lou’s foot dropped to the ground, startling him out of the thousand yard stare he inflicted on the files in front of him.

“I was using that,” he grumbled, reaching out to pick up the coffee cup buried under papers. 

“It’s going to a good cause,” Danny assured him as he pulled it over to the table. Time was quickly getting away from him, so he had to work quickly. Do first, make apologies later. Glancing over at Chin, he stabbed a finger at the table. “Does this thing have text to talk on it?” he asked as he positioned the chair with one hand, making it easy to use as a stepping stool up to the tech table. 

“Indeed it does.” Minimizing the windows he worked in, Chin quickly brought up the file containing the apps and started the one Danny requested. 

“That’s good. That’s really good, ah - “ Danny clapped his hands together. “If everyone could stay right here and not walk past my office for a moment, as a precaution, I would greatly appreciate it.” His words came out quicker as the itch started to deepen under his skin, only moments away from the first jolts of pain that came with resistance. He chewed on his lip, then held up a finger. “I will be right back.” Spinning around on his heel, he disappeared into his office and turned the blinds, shucking off his clothing as quickly as he could and tossing it aside on the couch. 

The shift came with a sense of relief. As much as he wasn’t exactly thrilled with shifting and the discomfort that came with it, the strengthening of animal instincts that usually - until lately, as he shifted more - resided at the back of his mind, on nights of the full moon, it felt like pressure off his body. He stretched his front legs forward, butt stuck up in the air as he stretched out his back, then shook once to fluff out his fur and slipped out the door, left open a crack for him to exit later. 

As he’d suspected, it was an easy hop to the chair and then the table, then a few minutes to figure out how best to swipe on the table. It turned out that his nose made for a more effective swipe than he’d figured out how to with his fingers. Chin reached out to ruffle the fur at his neck with a soft smile, then returned to working on the batch of papers he sorted through. They resumed working in silence, Honolulu’s nightlife amping up outside the Palace’s darkened windows. 

“Commander, I need an appraisal on - “ So focused on their work, no one heard Denning breeze through headquarter doors until the man stopped just after the Five-0 seal on the floor, staring at the fox standing on the tech table. Sam Denning looked untypically ruffled, a day’s worth of stubble on his chin and tie tugged loose around his neck, suit rumpled. While the pressure sat on Five-0, as their boss and the man at the head of the island, he felt the weight of it as well. “Is it the lack of sleep or is there a fox standing on the table?” he asked, pointing at Danny with the hand that held a jumbo cup of coffee that could possibly be illegal in several states for fear of causing heart attacks. 

A crash came through the open door of Steve’s office, followed by a soft curse regarding the useless printer and why was that plant even there, and he bolted out of the office, the collar for “Jersey” and it’s tags jangling in his hand. “It’s not a fox, sir. He’s a mutt actually, the combination of breeds just making it look like he’s a fox. A dog I rescued,” Steve said quickly as he looped the collar around Danny’s neck. Danny’s ears laid back and while he understood the _why_ , he couldn’t help the slight annoyance at suddenly being collared. 

“The _dog_ was swiping at the tech table,” Denning pointed out, still not making a move to come closer. 

“Fruit Ninja,” Chin supplied helpfully, rising to his feet. “We did all we could with the table and it kept him busy. It also provided us with a little amusement.” Not one for lies, Danny couldn’t help but be surprised at the ease with which Chin provided the excuse. Granted, it was technically a small white lie to protect his secret, and that he was grateful for. 

“He’s incredibly smart and if we don’t keep him busy, he gets into trou _ow_ ,” Steve growled as an ill timed scoop led to Danny skittering up his shirt and making himself comfortable over Steve’s shoulders, snuffling at the back of his neck. Steve let out a quiet giggle before he caught himself, attempting to cover it with a throat clearing as Denning’s eyebrows rose. “Actually, we’ve been training him as well, for use here in Five-0. As a dedicated infiltration animal. DIA. They’re a new program in the Navy and I gleaned a few basics from a friend of mine, thought we could try it here,” he added, hands spreading out. The boyish grin that appeared on Steve’s face sold the story, if Danny was being completely honest. 

“Here,” Chin said quickly, approaching Steve and Danny. He held up his hands, a quiet question for permission to pick Danny up. Danny squawked in agreement, making a mental note to thank Chin later for actually asking (unlike _other_ people) and stayed still as Chin slipped him off Steve’s shoulders and on the ground. “Sit.”

Obediently, Danny’s rear hit the ground. Steve caught on quickly and stepped up beside Chin, holding his hand out flat, palm down. Danny sunk to the floor. “Crawl,” Steve said softly, making a motion with his forearms horizontal, like a man pulling himself across the ground. Danny did so, inching across the ground. Then Chin clicked his tongue and pointed to the chair, hand motioning ‘up’. Danny quickly launched off the ground and proceeded with the directive, all while grumbling quietly. He was all for making it a realistic demonstration but would it hurt them to give him a little break between commands? 

“It’s still a work in progress but we think that Jersey here will actually be of great value in the field. While small in size, the tactical applications that he has, like reconnaissance when a small camera is attached to him, will be great,” Steve stated, hands clasped in front of him, chin tilted up, finally starting to catch his stride with the story. 

Denning seemed to take this all in, using a long drink to process what was clearly not something that he came to speak with Steve about, then nodded. “Make sure that you get him properly outfitted for the field when the time comes, Commander. I’ll see that the costs are accepted,” he allowed, rubbing his face wearily. “Could I speak to you in your office about the case so far?” Steve tilted his head in agreement, waving a hand towards the doorway and the two men disappeared into the office, closing the door behind them.

Chin slumped into his chair, running his hands over his face. “Let’s just hope that doesn’t come back to haunt us,” he muttered softly. “Or we’re going to be getting a hell of a crash course in creativity.” Danny huffed out his agreement, flopping on the floor, legs spread out. 

The meeting lasted only a few short moments before Steve and Denning emerged again. “Can I get you anything, sir? We have Detective Williams out running for our fuel. I’m sure he’d be happy to get you something too while he’s out?” 

Denning waved a hand in the air. “Coffee is all I need. Keep up the good work and hopefully we’ll all see our beds soon while the persons responsible are behind bars,” he replied, covering a yawn with his free hand. “While this is priority, don’t forget to take an occasional break,” he added as he headed towards the door. 

Once they shut behind him, Steve’s shoulders slumped in relief and he turned to face the gathered team, all watching him quietly. “Excellent team building exercise people. I’m very proud of you,” he joked halfheartedly.

Hopping up on the chair, then the table, Danny used his nose to tap at the letters for the Text To Talk app. “ _Coffee please. Someone,_ ” the dry robotic voice asked for him. Steve held up his hands and disappeared off to the break room. 

“All right, Foxy. Hold onto your tail.”

\-------

“How do you mix up espresso and regular coffee, McGarrett? Answer me that,” Lou demanded over the background noise of Danny’s toenails skittering across the slippery floor. They stared at the small fox darting this way and that, rushing across headquarters, zipping into one office after the other.

Steve’s hand rest over his mouth, eyes wide. “I, uh,” he said finally, “I just grabbed something and made it. I didn’t think…I certainly didn’t think that it would affect him like this.”

Picking up the rather large mug from the table, Kono arched an eyebrow at him. “Well, with the bathtub you gave it to him in…”

“That was so he could fit his nose in to drink out of it!” Steve protested, throwing out his hands. 

“Boss, you gave him a jumbo espresso and he’s a little animal with a big metabolism. I think this is kinda to be expected,” Kono told him evenly, rolling her eyes. Danny zipped by, making another circuit of the office as they all watched him, the fox showing no signs of slowing down. “You also know how he gets when he’s human-shaped on espresso. Talking so fast it’s almost hard to understand him and waving his hands around.” 

She’d barely uttered the last word when Chin snorted suddenly, then rest a hand over his mouth. “Sorry,” he stated, words muffled, “I’m just tired and - “ Danny zipped between his ankles and under the table, eliciting another cackle from Chin. The amusement caught on, Chin’s cackle making Kono giggle. Before long, the weariness quickly having become punch drunkness, Steve leaned against Lou, both of them laughing loudly. Kono wiped the tears away from her eyes as she giggled. 

“This is terrible,” Steve huffed between laughs. “I’m so sorry, buddy. I really am.” Danny stopped long enough to stare at them, let out a long string of yips and chirps, then took off again. Steve abruptly sobered at that. “Can foxes have heart attacks from overstimulation?” 

The serious moment barely lasted a minute before the robotic voice from the table started to berate him. “ _stevestevestevehavetogo_ ”

\-------

Danny lay on the floor of his office, pants zipped up but still unbuttoned, shirt open, staring up at the ceiling with bloodshot eyes. He didn’t even move as the door squeaked open and an exhausted looking Steve poked his head in, looking abashed. “Are you okay, Danno?” he asked. “I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t know...well.” 

Two fingers rose in the air. “That makes both of us.” Groaning, Danny pushed to a sitting position. “I can’t make buttons work. I tried and it just…” He spread his hands out, wiggling his fingers. “No buttons. Buttons bad.”

Steve moved further into the office, holding out his hand. “After what I did to you - _accidentally_ \- it’s the least I can do,” he murmured. Once he had Danny up and steadied, he quickly buttoned his pants, fixed his belt, then did up a few buttons on his shirt. With the undershirt and them going into god knew what hour of working, it was more about making the attempt than actually neatening him up.

Danny pat his shoulder, then the side of his face. “Despite feeling like being run over by a semi, I need more coffee. You should go get me more coffee. And bacon. I have this craving for bacon,” he muttered to himself, stumbling past Steve, “and rabbit. Still haven’t found a place with rabbit around here. Maybe sausage? And eggs…” 

Steve stared blankly at the window. “Rabbit,” he muttered, then shrugged his shoulders. “Why not.”


	24. In Which Danny And Silver Do Not Mix

Danny saw the rifle take aim and started to move before his mind caught up with his instincts, lowering his shoulder and slamming it into Steve’s body to knock him out of the way. Instead of the tearing of a bullet, he felt a sharp sting in his shoulder as he hit the ground on his back. His breath left in a sharp _oof_ and he lay there, blinking back stars from the hard landing. Nearby, Steve scrambled back to his feet, calling his name, asking if he was okay. Danny snapped back to the world, lifting his head to look for the gunman. 

Whoever they were, they’d booked it as soon as Danny took the hit instead of Steve. 

He felt his partner’s hands tugging at his vest, his shirt sleeves, looking him up and down for sign of injury until he got to the dart sticking out of Danny’s right shoulder. “What is this?” he muttered, Danny not quite sure if to himself or both of them, but Steve was obviously lost in thought, rolling the dart between his fingers. 

“If I knew, I probably would have explained by now,” Danny muttered as he jerked his vest and shirt straight, shooting Steve an annoyed look. “Obviously not something very - “ The words trailed off as the light tingling he felt in his arm and chalked up to the tackle suddenly turned into a pain so intense, he wondered if fire ants dug under his skin and started crawling through his veins. Danny grabbed his arm as he yelled out in pain, the human sound abruptly turning animal as it rustled the fox’s mental presence in the back of his mind. Unable to think straight, he dug at his arm, still wearing his tac gloves. “Hurts. Steve, it really _hurts_ ,” he pleaded.

God, he could take pain. He’d taken a whole hell of a lot of it, before and after. Multiple cracked ribs, contusions, wounds that required stitches, tearing the hell out of his ACL when he collided with a runner sliding home. He knew pain and he knew how to take it. Danny Williams was not sensitive to it but what he felt now, the sharp, burning pain, it reduced him to tears and pained gasps. Steve stayed right there, shouting for someone’s help as he pulled his knife and slit Danny’s sleeve up to his shoulder, tearing the fabric the rest of the way. Where the dart hit home, the spot radiated silver lines outward like rays of the sun. Danny let out a harsh choking sound as he stared, wide eyed, then let out another sharp yelp as a wave of pain hit him again.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” he panted, gritting his teeth. “Make it stop. Someone just make it stop,” he added, hating the almost whimper he heard in his voice. His sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of footfalls approaching, felt the presence of three humans as they knelt around him. Chin gently eased against him, giving him someone to lean against and he took it gratefully, giving up trying to sit up straight on his own. Kono pulled off her glove, resting the back of her hand against his forehead. 

“He’s running a fever. What the hell happened?” she demanded softly, turning to face Steve as Lou settled in beside him, frown deepening in concern. 

“I don’t - one moment, we were clearing the place before letting anyone else in, the next he slammed into me and - “ Steve held up the dart. “This hit him. He was fine for a moment and then…” Scared, he waved his hand to Danny. The look on his face mirrored the one Danny remembered all too well from his exposure to sarin. This though, this hurt worse and he felt like he could keel over right then and there. He closed his eyes, Chin’s bicep cool against his cheek. “Hey.” Steve’s hand sharply rapped Danny’s cheek. “Stay awake, Danny. Don’t nod off on us,” he demanded.

Despite the pain, Danny laughed almost hysterically. “I bet you said that to all your men during your pep talks,” he said, forcing his eyes open to see what expression Steve made at that. The world around him seemed a little sharper, a little easier to see despite the darkness and he knew that his eyes had changed. _Damn it._ Not now. He couldn’t start shifting now. “This is worse. This is worse than everything. Worse than pineapple on pizza,” he muttered, trying to inject humor, but the faces around him stayed somber and scared. “Don’t. Stop looking at me like that.” 

Another wave of pain hit him and Danny threw back his head as he yelled out, both Chin and Steve reaching for him. “Make it stop please,” he begged, hating it but he couldn’t take much more. The pitiful whine meant the fox pushed closer to the surface and he couldn’t take shifting on top of everything else right now. He couldn’t. He balled a fist in Steve’s shirt sleeve. “Just...I need to…” His mind was a furious, fevered whirlwind of activity and he couldn’t pin down a logical response. Someone he could tell them to get, but he couldn’t reveal their secret. He would _never_ do that to someone - 

“ _Move_ , Commander.” Max’s voice penetrated the heavy fog settling on his brain and Danny stared up at the medical examiner in something that felt strangely like awe. 

“What are you doing here, Max? We didn’t clear the building yet,” he murmured, head starting to tilt again, too heavy to lift. “You can’t see the dead people yet until we clear the building. No one wants you shot again.” Danny idly wondered if anything he said made sense or if it was so slurred that it only could be understood by him. 

“Detective Williams, please lie still and be quiet,” Max ordered him with a dark look, kneeling down beside Steve. “Commander, you might want to be ready to move quickly as this will not be pleasant.” Danny’s eyes went wide as Max removed a nasty looking syringe from the bottom of his bag, removing the cap. “Where was he hit?” he asked, as if he was not holding a big needle and they were, oh, casually eating breakfast at Kamekona’s. Despite Max being an ally, Danny started to feel a little bit of panic. It cut short and turned into another howl of pain when Steve nodded, pushed the fabric away from the spot, the silver spikes rapidly elongating across his hot burning skin, and Max jabbed the needle home and pushed the plunger down. 

The world went sideways on him all of a sudden and he fell against Steve entirely, hearing the shouts of his teammates from far away, as if they were at the other end of a very, very long tunnel, their words echoing to the point that he couldn’t understand him. Danny floated there, wondering if he would see a light that may be the way to Heaven or a semi looking to make roadkill, when a sudden vicious upswing of nausea caused him to lash out, knocking Steve on his ass for the second time that night. 

The vomit that hit the cracked concrete looked unnatural, pale and too close to whatever created the veins under his skin. A sickly, slightly sweet smell hit his nose and brought up another wave, Danny’s body shuddering as his stomach continued to empty its contents violently on the ground. By the fifth wave, he slumped to the ground while Steve rubbed his shoulder, staring at Max. “What the hell did you do to me?” he muttered. 

“A serum, Detective Williams, to rid your body of something that might be very toxic to you to the point of death and to destroy what would be left. A mixture of silver and _aconitum_ , also known as wolf’s bane,” Max replied, gaze sweeping the Five-0 taskforce, all eyes on him. And a lot of questions. There were a lot of questions there ready to be asked but no one seemed to know if they _should_. He suddenly looked very uncomfortable and rose to his feet, shifting the bag’s strap over his shoulder. “A word of caution,” he added over his shoulder before he left, “it would seem there is something foul on the island. A sharper eye is required.” With another _squirrely_ \- he punned and no one could appreciate it and that made him feel worse than the heaves - look at them all, Max headed for the entrance at a pace Danny couldn’t remember him ever achieving before. 

Then he started to laugh, thrusting a finger up in Steve’s face and nearly shoving it up his nose. Steve patiently grasped his wrist and lowered it. “They were trying to hit you. They think the badass has to be the furry one,” he said, eyes widening. “There’s someone who hunts people like me…” Danny trailed off, face paling another shade. Grace. Charlie. Five-0. All people that, if they knew one of them was a shifter, they might come after them. “I have to - do things. I have to talk to Max...for reasons,” he finished lamely, trying to scramble to his feet. The floor tilted sharply and it was only Chin’s timely catch that stopped him from faceplanting. He slid an arm under Danny’s shoulder, Steve sliding in on the other side.

“The only place you’re going is to rest,” Chin lectured him sternly, then caught Steve pointing at his own chest. “Apparently that place is Steve’s, where you’ll have your very own worried mother SEAL,” he added dryly. “Are you sure we don’t need to get you checked out?” 

Danny’s knees wanted to give and he shook his head sharply, trying to bring back more awareness. “No, I don’t want to have to explain this. Just get me out of here before HPD finds out. If I take a turn for the worse, then I’ll reconsider, but right now, I feel fine. Just a little silver poisoning. I’ve had worse.”

Steve scowled and Chin closed his eyes. “You’re still not funny,” Kono growled at him, finger poking him hard from behind. 

\----------

“Your fever is dropping, you’re keeping down fluids, and those silver streaks are gone from around that wound. The prick itself looks nasty though,” Steve said as he carefully prodded the spot. Despite Miracle Max’s cure, the spot remained extremely tender and Danny winced, which caused Steve to pull back hastily. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re fine,” Danny turned his head to bury it in the pillow. “You know, I thought my biggest worry would be my job, but now I have to worry that there are people out there that hate what I am enough - or what they think you are enough - to kill me - us - for it without ever knowing who we are,” he said softly, “and the danger it puts everyone around us in.” 

Steve settled on the edge of the bed. “We’ll figure it out, Danno. We always do. It’s not just you, okay? It’s me and it’s Kono and it’s Chin and it’s Lou. We have a lot of resources at our command. Whoever made that attempt tonight, they’re going to regret it.” He fell silent and Danny didn’t need to look to know he had _that_ expression, the one where he really, really wanted to ask, but didn’t think it would lead where he wanted it to. “About tonight. What Max did - “ 

“No.” Danny weakly waved a hand through the air. “No, no, no, do not ask me. I love you, babe, and I try to be as honest as you can, though I have messed up, but that is not mine to answer. Do not ask me, okay? Please.”

Closing his eyes, Steve nodded once and then blew out a breath. “Okay. Okay, I understand that and will respect that. Or try,” he added under his breath. Standing, he tugged off his shirt and then crawled over Danny, flopping on the other side.

“What are you doing? You have your own bed. Shoo.”

“Someone should keep an eye on you after what you went through tonight, Danny. Just in case. Besides, it’s not like we haven’t shared a bed or I haven’t had the misfortune of waking up to you in the nude.”

“That was an _accident_. And I should be the disturbed party here, given you still cuddled me.” 

“You had a blanket over you and you were warm. I’m not going to apologize for that,” Steve replied stubbornly, arms crossing over his chest. “Go to sleep before I decide I need a late night snack.”

Danny’s stomach rebelled hard at that and he rest a hand over his mouth, forcing it to calm before he could reply. “Well played. I hope you have nightmares of giant crabs running after you,” he grumbled.

Behind him, Steve grinned and smacked his shoulder. “Just shut up and sleep.”


	25. In Which Danny Refuses To Mate

“Is everything okay?” Chin’s fingers brushed Danny as he took the carry out cup from Danny’s hand and set it on his desk, brow furrowed in concern as he looked up at his teammate. Outside in main headquarters, Lou finished a somewhat dirty joke and Kono and Steve burst out laughing, the sound filling the atmosphere around them.

“Everything is fine. I haven’t been shot at, stabbed, or poisoned in nearly a week. It’s almost like I’m on vacation, you know?” Danny replied, giving Chin a lopsided grin of reassurance. “Why? What makes you think something’s going on?” 

Chin’s worried brow furrow eased slightly, but he kept his studious posture, hands clasped on the desk in front of him. “You just seem...I don’t know. You’ve never been stingy, unlike the one who forgets his wallet often,” he stated dryly, the faint mischievous look in his eyes indicating he was only joking, “but you’ve bought us all coffee and breakfast every day this week, that trail mix Steve loves, chocolate for Kono, beer from Lou’s favorite brewery in Chicago, and you bought me new accessories for my bike.” He held up his hand. “Which I do appreciate, Danny, I really do, but I’m a little worried about why the sudden spending spree on us. Is there something going on? Something you need to break to us?” The confused look returned. “Possibly trying to date us all?”

Danny’s laughter took on a slightly panicked edge as he shook his head hard enough to throw his balance slightly, moving his hands through the air. “While I would be lucky enough to date you all, I don’t think I could handle all four of you at the same time and I think Renee, Lynn, Leilani, and Adam would have a problem with that,” he replied dryly. He chewed on his lip, checking over his shoulder to make sure the other three were still occupied across the office, then sunk into the chair in front of Chin’s desk. “If I, uh, tell you something, can it stay between us?” He quickly held his hands up. “It will not affect the safety of the team, I swear. It’s personal.”

Chin nodded slowly, picking up his cup to take a sip. “Code of honor, Danny. What is said in confidence stays in confidence unless it could cause harm to the person or someone else,” he replied, expression serious. Danny felt like he needed to shake Chin’s hand or pinkie swear with him after that solemn statement.

“Okay, so, recently I have, uh, been learning the ways of my other side from an acquaintance,” he explained hesitantly, staring at the desk instead of meeting Chin’s eyes, “and I have come to realize that this peculiar feeling I get this time of every year is...well, it happens for a reason. Much like the animals we share a mind with, the changing of seasons brings a biological urge to, you know…” Danny slotted his fingers together, making Chin’s eyebrows rise.

“Mate?”

“Yeah, something like that. Since it’s not a biological imperative for the survival of the species, it’s more like we get very…” Danny hesitated, burying his face in his hands. No, he was not some delicate little flower who became embarrassed at the idea of sex. In fact, Danny Williams was a huge fan of a safe, consensual good time, of being creative, of pleasing his partner who mostly would be feminine, but once in a while a man, but telling a co-worker, even a co-worker who he considered a best friend, _family_ , that spring made him incredibly horny because of the fox in his head was pushing that line into mortification.

“Energetic.” There was no look of judgement on Chin’s face, only a softening of his expression from concerned to understanding. “Danny, you are a grown man who makes his own decisions. I doubt anyone is going to give you hell over finding a few mutuals to tide you over, you know? As long as it is consensual and agreed upon, which I have no doubt you would pursue. Without question.”

Scowling, Danny drew his fingers through his hair. “But it’s not just that, okay? I mean, yeah, I see nothing wrong with it under the same conditions as you do, but I am a highly monogamous human being. Yes, I like to flirt, but you damn well better to believe I’m going to take you out for coffee before I take you to bed. No, not even. Coffee, dinner, then bed. I mean, it could all be in the same night, but what I’m saying is if I don’t know who I’m taking to bed, if there’s no connection there, it isn’t doing shit for me. What’s the point? None.”

He flopped back in the chair, sinking slightly. “And, you know, there’s other reasons. You see all this bullshit on TV and...look, I just want to prove that there’s no such thing as being a slave to hormones. That it’s inevitable and it’s going to happen and help whoever gets in the way because that’s wrong.” Danny shrugged. “I’m single, but a mating bond isn’t the only bond out there for shifters. There is the pack bond. Or, in my case, skulk.”

Chin, smart detective that he was, glanced down at the cup in his hand. “You’re pack courting us,” he said slowly, putting the pieces together. “You’re spoiling your skulk like you would if you were trying to attract a mate. A redirection of energy.”

Danny’s mouth hung open, then snapped shut as he stared at Chin questioningly. “That was remarkably astute, Lieutenant. Better and more concise than I’ve ever put it in my head.”

This time, it was Chin’s turn to grin. “Animal Planet. National Geographic. Discovery Channel. I like animal shows,” he replied, shrugging a shoulder. “But while I do understand and I’m impressed by the redirection of your hormones towards friendship appreciation, you do understand that you don’t have to court us, right? We’re behind you, Danny, as we are behind each other. Five-0 stands back to back always.”

For the first time in the conversation, Danny felt the tension ease out of his shoulders, the relaxation of his muscles bringing a smile to his face. “Yeah, I know, but if I’m going to feel the urge to spoil someone, I’m going to use it on the people I love the most. My cubs, my skulk. I know I don’t have to, but I want to.”

Chin smiled back at him. “That’s all I’m looking for, brah.” Taking another drink, he frowned down at it. “This is perfect. How did you know how I took it?” he asked, rising up from his chair.

Danny rose as well, tapping the side of his nose. “It still takes some guess work as to how much, but milk and sugar have distinctive scents if I focus,” he replied. “I spent the entire week leading up to this cycle sniffing everyone’s coffee.” He rolled his eyes, shoving his hands into his pockets as he fell into step beside Chin.

A look of realization passed over Chin’s face. “So you’ve been doing this every year at this time since…”

“Yep. I’ll tell you what. That first year here, when I was still broke from moving? That was an extremely creative year. I just ended up sneaking everyone’s paperwork away to do myself.”

Chin’s mouth paused on the lip of the cup. “I knew I wasn’t going crazy when I thought that pile was getting smaller on its own,” he muttered. “So Steve’s guitar? Kono’s new rashguard?” 

“Look, it’s not that I wouldn’t normally because I actually do enjoy it. And, you know, with a lot of running and working out and boxing, I stay on top of the rest of it.” Danny shrugged again, holding his hands out. “It’s the best possible thing that could come out of this haywire season, okay? So please keep it under your hat?”

Chin clapped a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “I meant it earlier when I said I would, Danny. You can trust that.”

Slipping away from his grip just to pull him into a hug with a hearty backslap, Danny held him tightly. “I know, babe. Where the world has thrown a lot of dishonesty at us to the point where trusting people is the last thing we should be doing, I know that will never be the case when it comes to the people here in this room.” He stepped away, hand sliding from Chin to indicate the three still standing around the table. “My family.”

“Your skulk,” Chin added helpfully, as Steve looked their way and motioned them over.

“Charlie just sent over those reports. Let’s get down to this.”


	26. In Which Kono And Danny Camp Out On The Full Moon

Danny had no idea why he’d agreed to this crazy plan, yet there he was, standing on the front of Kono’s board as she rode the wave under the light of the full moon over their heads. When she’d convinced him to spend the night with her instead of Steve, he’d figured she wanted to play fetch again, or she was having a difficult day, missing Adam. Instead, she grinned at him and told him they were going to try something new, an interesting addition to his lessons. 

If he was being entirely honest with himself, it wasn’t as bad as he’d imagined as Kono drove them to the quiet beach that she knew of. Drowning, being unable to swim, old fears involving water clawed their way to the forefront of his mind and he all but attached himself to the passenger seat before she convinced him that she knew what she was doing. 

The wind ruffled his fur as he stuck his muzzle up into the air, stretching his body forward. Kono crouched down behind him, using the shift in her weight to turn the board, fingers brushing lightly along his back and giving his tail a playful tug before she straightened up, arms stretching out on either side of her body. He glanced back to see her grinning, something wild and free about her that was absolutely infectious. He chirped at her and she wiggled the fingers of her left hand in a small wave at him. 

All right, so he had to put a little more faith in the people around him and a little less in the anxious voices in his head that carefully mapped out the worst case scenarios, pushing the positive behind them and leaving him with feelings of dread that lasted until after he was proven wrong. He couldn’t remember the last time that he’d been honestly excited about something without the creeping tendrils of dread or worry clawing at the edges. 

She scooped him up once she pulled the board up onto the beach, scratching under his chin while she buried her nose in the scruff of his neck and placed a small kiss there. “See? That wasn’t so bad, was it? I’ll make a surfer out of you yet, Danny Williams, whether on two feet or four,” she told him. “It was just the right kind of night for it and really, after being at reserves all week, Steve was just going to fall asleep early on the couch anyway.”

Setting him down on the blanket, Kono quickly shed her rashguard and pulled on a hoodie, running fingers through her wet hair. Then she sat on the blanket with him, reaching into her bag to pull out two takeout containers. “For the fox, one shredded rotisserie chicken,” she stated, setting it before him. “For someone with better taste, Kamekona’s special of the week. I honestly envy what he can do with spices,” she added, pointing her fork at her own meal. 

The two of them ate in companionable silence but once he was done, he looked up to catch Kono staring out at the ocean, fork pressed between her lips. Concerned, Danny pawed at her leg, only stopping when she looked down at him. Closing her container, she pushed both aside, laid down on the blanket, and scooped him to her side. “Quit giving me that look, Williams. Even foxy, I can tell when you’re about to go Dad on me. I have one of those and a cousin who comes in a close second. Tonight is just about getting away from the civilized and embracing the free,” she told him, scratching under his belly.

Danny, unable to argue that he was incapable of not worrying about her or the rest of the team for that matter, that he preferred to take care of them than turn that focus inward, huffed and rest his head on her stomach, ears twitching idly. “See? No cars, no music, no anything. Just us and the ocean. Calm, relaxed.” Her voice started to trail and he lifted his head just enough to look up at her. Her eyes were heavy and unfocused, her body relaxing into the blanket. Wiggling loose from her grip, he slunk up to her head and gently nosed at her hair.

Complying, Kono lifted her head enough for him to wiggle under and allow her to lay back down against. She rolled sleepily onto her side, managing a small attempt at an itch on his chest before her hand went limp over his leg. He glanced back at her to see her eyes fully shut, breathing even. 

All right, so it didn’t look like they would be driving back to civilization anytime soon. The weather was still warm, there didn’t seem to be any immediate threats to safety around, no clouds looming overhead bringing rain with them. He tilted his head up at the moon, pressing his ears back. As much as he wanted to be on an actual bed and not on a makeshift bed on the sand, he had to admit it could be worse. Besides, Kono seemed relaxed enough for both of them, sleep soothing away worry and stress that made her face look younger, back to the days when they first met. He watched her a moment later before he chirped quietly, relenting. 

There were a lot worse places they could be, a lot worse things they could be doing. Laying his head down, he closed his eyes but kept a quiet, vigilant ear out on their surroundings. _Sleep well, Kono._


	27. Flashback #2: Shifters And Horror Movie Cousins

Grace fell asleep during The Notebook, tucked up against Danny’s side with her antennas and sunglasses knocked askewed as her face rested against his shoulder, mouth open and snoring quietly. Steve, ever the doting uncle, insisted that Grace and Danny crash at his place for the night, which a half-awake Grace agreed to and trudged up the stairs. Danny pulled an old t-shirt from the emergency bag he kept in the trunk of his Camaro (when working with Steve McGarrett and his tendency to get shot at, emergency clothing was a must) for her to change into while Catherine excused herself for the night and headed home.

Now Danny sat on the couch in the darkness, blanket wrapped around his shoulders, blearily blinking at the terrible horror movie on TV as the rest of the house slept on. Honestly, if it wasn’t the piss poor excuse for CGI, it was the treatment of the werewolf. Danny huffed and muttered under his breath about not all being monsters as he dug another piece of candy out of the bag Grace left for him, the ones she disliked. He considered it his fatherly duty to make sure those didn’t go to waste and it wasn’t like he was picky when it came to sweet. 

He was working a piece of sticky taffy out from behind a back tooth when he caught a whiff of fresh soap and movement out of his peripheral vision, startling him. Steve hovered beside the arm chair, hair ruffled, arms crossed over the cutoff Navy t-shirt he always wore to bed, giving Danny an exasperated look. “Don’t you ever sleep?” he muttered, flopping down in the arm chair now that he had Danny’s attention. 

“Don’t you?” Danny shot back in annoyance, pulling a bite size candy bar out of the bag and whipping it at Steve’s head. “Don’t even tell me that the TV was too loud. _I_ can barely hear it and my hearing is excellent,” he added, taking a small amount of satisfaction in the way the candy bar bounced off Steve’s forehead and rolled down into his lap, the other man making no effort to catch it. “So you must have already been up, gone to use the bathroom, noticed there was still a glow down here and reassure yourself that you are still the healthier one who gets the required amount of sleep by lecturing me on my lack thereof. Am I correct?” 

Steve sat there in silence before kicking up the leg rest and settling in. “Shut up, Danno,” he muttered, turning his head to look at the TV screen, where the werewolf in a full moon rage tore apart its hapless victim, some cutesy stupid couple that decided to make out in the middle of the woods. Honestly, if common sense was more common, then the world would be left without many horror movies. “What do you think it’s like to be a werewolf?” he added after a beat, head tilting curiously to get a better angle on the TV. 

The nuget went down the wrong way and Danny started coughing, thumping on his chest until it finally resumed the right path. “Aside from…” Given what he knew, he couldn’t bring himself to tell Steve they weren’t real, not when it was a blatant lie and enough people already lied to his partner. “Very hairy?” he finished lamely, squeezing his eyes shut and tilting his head back. _Smooth, Williams, very smooth._

Steve snorted at that. “You’d know a few things about that, wouldn’t you?” he asked dryly, only to receive a bag of candy corn upside the head.

“You can keep those,” Danny told him, going back to shuffling through the bag. Steve picked the bag up and eyed it warily before he tossed it on the small table at the end of the couch. “Yeah, that was my exact thought on those things too.”

Spreading his hands, Steve looked over at Danny. “Seriously though, I mean...do you think you’d just cease to exist when your body changes?” he said thoughtfully. “Or do you think it’d be like you’re chained up in the back of your mind, witnessing it all but unable to interfere?” 

The whole conversation was beginning to make him uncomfortable and Danny pulled the blanket tighter around him. It would be easy, so easy, right then and there, to tell Steve his secret, to let him in on the burden he carried alone, but as soon as he considered it, his mind piped up: _Or he finds out that you’re a freak of nature, Williams. What’s on the TV, what he’s talking about, it’s all theoretical fiction, no truth, nothing serious, but you turn into an actual fox. And after all they show about them on TV, how dangerous and violent they are, you think that anyone is going to want to stick around you?_

That voice always shut down the sharing moment fast and he flopped back, pulling his legs up to rest his heels on the edge of the cushion. “I think you’re tethered to each other,” he said, tentatively drawing on his own experiences, “and I don’t think it’s like that. You share the same body, right? So one can’t disappear while the other is present. One is just...not as present, but still there, like switching places. The one in the background isn’t as strong, but still as a say, because again, shared body. So the choice to do gratuitous violence is made by the human side, not the animal.”

Steve was silent for a moment before he nodded slowly. “You’ve thought a lot about this, haven’t you?” he said finally.

_Danny slammed the door of his motel room shut behind him, dropping the paper bag on the small table by the window. The two bottles inside clanked together noisily as he tugged his tie off with an angrier yank than needed and threw it into the suitcase propped up against the wall, slumping down in a chair beside the table. Tugging one of the bottles out, he twisted off the cap and took a long drink, letting the liquor burn its way down. Unfortunately, it didn’t burn away the last few hours spent in court, trying to make his case to a judge regarding custody._

_He started to get up again to slam the curtains shut, the sun setting over the cityscape but still too damn bright for his current mood. As he started to rise, pain ripped through the shoulder mauled a few weeks earlier and he sank back down, slapping a hand over it. He blew out a breath, muttered about Matt maybe being right about his alcohol intake, then started to get up again when the pain hit again, this wave stronger than the last. This time, Danny sunk to his knees, almost tearing the buttons off his shirt to get it off._

_The pain left a warm throb that trickled into his chest and stomach, almost feeling like...fur, fur caressing his insides. The strange feeling furthered his panic, as did the painful tightening in his chest. He leaned forward, forehead hitting the dingy motel carpeting as he tried to pull in calming breaths as a phantom hand squeezed his stomach tight. Since the attack, all his senses seemed to be overly sensitive, but now they ramped up in to overdrive and he was suddenly very aware of the couple having sex two rooms down, the mouse that made itself at home behind the dresser against the wall, smelled the mold no doubt buried in the walls of the bathroom._

_Danny rolled onto his side, still curled up in a ball with his arms crossed tightly over his stomach as the pain began to worsen. “Someone help me,” and as much as he tried, he couldn’t get his voice to come out any louder than a whispered breath. Of their own accord, his legs uncurled from his body and he felt...felt them change._

_And did it hurt._

_Despite his earlier need to call for help, he buried his face against the inside of his right elbow, the smell of sweat and cologne and detergent filling his senses as it muffled his pained screams. Muscle and bone twisted in his body and as he dug his fingertips into the carpet, desperate for something to hold onto, he heard a soft rip and pulled his head up just enough to see that it was no longer just fingertips, but sharp claws. “The fu-” The epithet was lost in another buried scream of pain and as he clamped his mouth shut, something that didn’t belong in his mouth made him reach up. Fangs. He had fangs._

_What the hell was happening to h-_

_Fur. Fur pushing through his skin, covering his arms. Fingers shortening, forearms lengthening and upper arms shortening, knees tugging backwards, hips shifting. He tried to keep track of all the changes to take his mind off the pain screaming through his body until it all dulled to a soft throb and he opened his eyes, covered by something._

_It took him a moment to realize that it was his shirt. Danny tentatively rose to his feet, then fought out of the clothing, tumbling face first into the carpet again. He yelped loudly and laid there, panting like he’d won a marathon._

_Panting. Panting through a snout. Four legs, paws. Something in his mind pressed inquisitively forward, then when he was too tired to push it away, it curled around him. Once again, Danny rose to his feet, but this time moved with a little more grace and coordination than before, taking one step and then two, shaking out his fur. Fur. Shit._

_What am I? He prodded the thing that settled into his head with him, shared the space calmly, waiting for his reaction._

_He felt another brush against his mind, soothing, curious, instincts alien but somehow interwoven with his own._

_Fox. We are fox._

Danny shook his head, wondering if Steve could even see the motion in the darkness. “What teenage boy hasn’t thought about it?” he said quickly, rolling his eyes. “Or teenage girl. Any kid who was trapped in a small house with way too many siblings and just wanted to get away from it all, wondered what it was like to live wild and free.” 

Steve seemed to take that under honest consideration and turned his head back to the TV. “It doesn’t sound all that bad when you put it that way. I mean, if you knew you weren’t going to turn into that,” he added, waving to the slobbering, bloody beast on the TV. Danny shuddered. Had that been his fate every full moon, he would have put a bullet in his own brain years ago. 

“You think?” he ventured softly, licking his lips nervously. Again, there was the opportunity. 

“I mean, it’d still be extremely weird but hey, who wouldn’t want to try running around on four legs once? I mean, hypothetically,” Steve replied. “You just wonder if someone wouldn’t go feral after a while, sharing a brain with a wild animal.”

Danny’s shoulders slumped under the blanket as he tried to figure out how to take the remark. “Hell if I know,” he muttered, suddenly wondering about his own future. Briefly, he pictured himself in five years time, half human and half fox, hunkered down in a Hawaiian forest somewhere with no real sense of self except basic animal instinct. A shudder worked down his spine that had nothing to do with the air conditioning and he slumped down farther.

“I think I’m going to try and get some shut eye,” he said suddenly, drawing Steve’s attention away from the TV. “Wake me up before you hit the water in the morning so I can get the kid out of bed, all right? Grace hates mornings.”

“Just like her father, huh?” Steve shot back cheekily, getting up from the chair. As Danny fished the control out of the couch cushions, Steve smacked his knee before he veered back towards the stairs. “Have a good night, buddy. Don’t let the waves annoy you too much.”

“Hardy har har,” Danny snarked back, turning off the TV and settling back on the couch, blanket still balled up around his shoulders as he settled into the right spot on the pillow Steve loaned him. Once his partner was back in bed, he closed his eyes and burrowed down, breathing a frustrated sigh.

Another day, another missed opportunity to be honest.


	28. In Which Jerry Meets Jersey

Chin Ho had the best couch of all the couches he spent full moon nights on. Danny felt like he was stretched out on a cloud, his body sinking into the cushion in all the right places, lulling him off to sleep when Chin ran out to grab the takeout he’d ordered. After the day they had, it was easy to drowse lightly though his stomach continued to rumble and wouldn’t stop until he got some food. He’d just managed to ramble off an order to Chin and dig his share of the bill out of his wallet before the full moon had its way.

With a sigh of contentment, he stretched out all four of his legs, toes splaying out. His back arched and he let his legs fall loosely back to the cushion, licking his chops. No, he definitely had to ask Chin where he’d bought this couch. Maybe make him an offer for it. It was that good of a couch. By comparison, Steve’s couch was an army cot.

It took him a moment in his relaxed state to realize that there was someone in the house, soft footfalls from the front door to the kitchen, then the slam of the kitchen door. Chin must have been back already. Hopping down from the couch, he bent down to stretch out again before lazily trotting into the kitchen, tail swishing along behind him. _I hope you got everything, buddy, because I am starving_

Danny stopped dead in the doorway and stared up at the man who had just been about to enter the living room. “Uh...good animal,” Jerry said slowly, hands up as he took a step back. “That’s a good fox. Fox in the house. This is so not my fault,” he murmured, slipping into a conversation of self-reassurance. 

He was at a complete loss as to what to do. Look sweet and innocent, play submissive, run off? He had instincts to guide him, of course, but despite the human influence, his fox was certainly not tame. 

And in the time he debated with himself, Jerry slowly made it to the closet and brought out a broom. Danny’s ears flattened back, his body going tense, and he skittered backwards, rear end hitting the door frame. Spinning around, he ducked back into the living room with Jerry hot on his tail, making encouraging motions towards the door.

_Excuse me, I am an indoor pet, Ortega,_ Danny thought as he bounded up on the back of the couch, at least making him a little taller, and yipped sharply at Jerry. His response was to tentatively thrust the broom at him again. “Come on. You’ll like it better outside. You can go back to your den?” he stated hopefully, earning a glare from Danny.

The next broom shot he caught between his teeth, holding on for dear life until Jerry dropped the broom, his hands shooting up into the air again. “Okay, animal control it is,” he said, slowly pulling the phone from his pocket. Danny yipped at him again, the sound muffled by the straw in his mouth.

Which was exactly when Chin returned, hands full of bags. He stopped dead, taking in the sight of Jerry frozen in mid-dial and Danny standing on the back of the couch, mouth full of his broom. “...hey,” he said slowly, “I thought you had a date until late?”

Jerry glanced at him. “Uh, home early. She didn’t feel good,” he said quickly, “and you have wildlife in your house. Just so you know,” he added with forced casualty. Danny spit out the broom and eased down, still balanced on the couch back, ears back and blue eyes wide and innocent.

“It’s okay, Jerry,” Chin stated with a quiet laugh. “That’s Jersey, Steve’s dog. I’m watching him for the night. He’s a very affectionate animal, doesn’t like to be alone.” Off that comment, Danny started to wag his tail. 

“Dude, I highly respect Commander McGarrett and all but that is most definitely a fox,” Jerry replied, pointing at Danny. “That’s not even a husky fluff kind of tail. That’s fox tail.” Even too late, Danny lifted his butt in the air and tucked his tail under him. 

“He’s a mutt, Jerry. Crossbreeding produces some strange results,” Chin replied, looking uneasy at the lies he was having to tell Jerry. Instead of allowing them to dwell, he tilted his head back towards the dining room. “Get some silverware and come join me, yeah?” Jerry shot Danny a mystified look before he padded off into the kitchen. 

Hopping down, Danny silently padded after Chin, nosing at the takeout bags as they swung back towards him. He lept on a chair, then on the table, which Chin immediately swept him off of and put him back on the floor, expression apologetic. “He’s going to find it weird if you’re eating on the table,” Chin said softly, pulling one of the containers from the bag and swiftly opening it to put under the table.

Oh god, he’d become the family pet. Not that he blamed Chin in any way, but he was eating under the table like every dog the Williams family ever owned. He stared morosely at his food, then stuck his muzzle in and began chowing down. When under the table, eat as the pets do, he guessed.

Jerry settled in, talking Chin’s ear off about some new theory, when Danny caught a whiff of dumplings under the table. On the one hand, Chin told him to stay off the table. On the other?

_Those are my dumplings._

A hop up on the chair at the end of the table, then a hop on to the table. He skittered over to the tin pan holding the hot steamed dumplings, caught the edge between his teeth, and started to tug it backwards. He caught Chin covering his face with a hand out of his peripheral vision, Jerry pausing with a dumpling halfway to his mouth. 

_Mine._ So sue him, food guarding was definitely the fox’s MO but he was still hungry. Chin reached out to catch the pan’s other edge. “Jersey. Those are not yours.” He gave Danny a look, then tilted his head towards a plastic bag on the floor. 

_Oops. Those are mine._ He stood there awkwardly, then pounced down, the bag rustling as he landed on it, then dragged it under the table. Above him, the silence remained for a few beats more before Jerry spoke up. “Yeah, pretty sure someone fleeced Commander McGarrett about his dog, but you know. Whatever makes him happy.”


	29. In Which Danny And Steve Meet Hunters

“All right, you got me. I’m your shifter. I’ll let you take me if you let him go.” Danny’s mouth dropped open and his head whipped around to glare at Steve. Hands out to look as harmless as possible, Steve lifted his chin, still managing to project an air of defiance as he stared down the two men holding both him and Danny at gunpoint. So much for what was supposed to be a relaxing Saturday afternoon hike to get away from the stresses of day to day life.

“Steve,” Danny said softly, trying to keep an eye on the men out of his peripheral vision while he glanced towards his best friend. “What do you think you’re doing?” His voice lost the heated edge and came out almost desperate, pleading. By taking the heat off Danny, by saying he was the shifter, Steve was taking the undue burden on himself and worse if this didn’t work out in their favor. But Steve, he barely bat an eye, his expression almost...peaceful? Some part of this Danny blamed on the SEAL training that made him crazy, crazy than any one human being had the right to be. “ _Steve_ ,” he hissed again. 

Of the two men, the one with his gun trained on Steve seemed to be the one in charge. So far, the dopey one with his gun trained on Danny seemed more likely to take orders than give. The first one, tall, dark-haired, expression one of perpetual annoyance, making him looked like he always smelled something bad, tilted his head. There was something about him that made Danny think ex-military, which wouldn’t be out of place in someone who hunted down abnormal human beings. “Nah, I don’t think so,” Sour Face said finally, not even shooting Danny a considering look. “He knows. That’s dangerous enough.” 

Steve extended a hand towards Danny, the other still up in the air. “Look at his face, the surprise? Does that look like a man who knew?” Steve demanded. “He has two kids, one of whom is battling illness. He’s the marrow donor for him. You can’t take away that child’s chance at survival.” If it wasn’t for the fact that Super SEAL seemed like he was trying to sacrifice himself for Danny, he would have been touched. But seeing how Steve’s casual indifference to his own life was overriding his extreme importance in Danny’s life _again_ , all Danny could do was grit his teeth and try not to call him out on it, sparking a fight in front of these two buffoons. 

“Collateral damage, Commander. You might be familiar with that term,” Sour Face replied, then glanced at his buddy, Dudley Dum Dum as Danny had labeled him. “You good with the right rounds?” 

Dum Dum proceeded to disengage the clip, check, then nodded once. “We’re all set, boss,” he replied, taking aim at Danny once again. Then he disappeared behind Steve stepping sideways, hands still up as his body blocked Danny’s. 

“He goes free, he doesn’t say a word, you get me without a fight,” Steve said again, his voice low. “Otherwise, I’m not going to make this easy on you.”

“ _Steven J. McGarrett, don’t you dare do this,_ ” Danny hissed quietly behind him. God, he was not going to let his best friend, his partner, his _brother_ take the bullets meant for a freak of nature like him. Granted he didn’t feel that he deserved them either - at least not for being a werefox, though there were other incidents in the past few years unrelated - but it didn’t change what he was and what Steve wasn’t. 

Sour Face only looked annoyed. “We have to do what we have to do. An abomination can’t be allowed to live and he knows too much now. Can’t have it getting out either. People panic,” he stated, shaking his head. Then the gun dipped slightly and Danny only had time to draw in a breath before the gunshot rang out and Steve flew back into Danny, taking them both to the ground.

Danny scrambled to sit up, hands sliding all over Steve’s shirt, looking for an entry wound to block, but Steve smacked his hands away. “Leg,” he grunted, “he shot me in the leg. Hurts like a son of a bitch, but I’m fine.” At that point, Danny hated to breathe a sigh of relief but did so anyway. On the scale of injuries Steve had sustained in the time he knew him, this was certainly one of the smaller ones. That was a sad statement in itself. Then Steve’s face wrinkled up and he grabbed his bleeding leg. “Shit, shit that hurts. Silver,” he grunted in a performance even Danny had to admit was award winning. He had no idea that BUDs also taught Academy Award-winning acting skills. 

Sour Face and Dum Dum continued to watch him squirm impassively until Sour Face shook his head. “That wasn’t silver round,” he said finally, eyes narrowing. “How the hell did we get it wrong?” Steve went absolutely still, hands still resting on his bleeding leg. “They have to be taken care of regardless. You know the drill. Plug and dump,” he added to Dum Dum. 

“Because he’s a highly decorated Navy SEAL, you _idiots_ ,” Danny snapped over his shoulder, hauling the long sleeved shirt off over his head and wrapping it around Steve’s leg. Between the two of them, they got it tied tightly and Steve met Danny’s eyes, the small shake of his head the only indication that he realized what Danny was about to do. Steve tried to protect him, give his life for him, and Danny would do much the same given the chance. “Of course he’s got a little extra oomph than most people. He trained his _ass off_ for it.” He slipped his fingers around Steve’s wrist, squeezing reassuringly. Steve locked eyes with him, challenging. His lips moved slowly. _Don’t, Danny._

“Still. Man throws himself around like that, does what he does, one can’t help but think maybe he’s got some abomination under the hood.” Danny squeezed his eyes shut, the ‘a’ word hitting him where it hurt. It was true that he didn’t think highly of his condition in the least, but even a complete stranger’s opinions on what he was in a highly negative light cut him deep. That hurt also pissed him off and he hung his head slightly, pulling in air through his nose and releasing it through his mouth, his grip tightening around Steve’s wrist a little more and he could feel the other man shifting, as if trying to get a grip on Danny before he did something stupid.

Every member of Five-0 was good at doing something stupid. Danny was no exception to that rule.

“He’s not,” he snapped out quietly, focusing in and hearing near silent footfalls approaching from behind, gauging their positions. Steve tapped his leg and Danny opened his eyes to meet his, realizing Steve had gone absolutely still, gaze flickering between the two men. Then, the smallest nod. 

Danny rose smoothly to his feet, turning as he did, his fist slamming into Dum Dum’s solar plexus hard, doubling the man over. With his other hand, he stripped the gun out of the man’s hand and it tumbled back towards Steve, who scrambled towards it. With Dum Dum wheezing on the ground, Danny turned his attention to Sour Face. Granted, the man gave off strong ex-military vibes, but Danny was one pissed off freak of an abomination and frankly didn’t give a shit in that moment. 

Smiling, he gave Sour Face a good look at his fangs as he let the fox join him up front in his mind. “You didn’t get it that wrong after all,” he growled, his voice coming out in a low rumble, stalking towards Sour Face. “You just looked at the wrong man.” The gun went off and he felt something tear through his arm, but he kept rushing forward, slamming low into Sour Face and knocking them both to the ground. Hurt his brother, threatened his brother, threatened him, the fury flooded Danny and he entangled himself with Sour Face, the two swinging and landing, lashing out. 

A gunshot rang out behind him and Danny went still, whirling around to look desperately for Steve. It was Dum Dum unmoving on the ground, however, Steve up on one foot and balancing with his injured leg. He recognized that look, the dangerous ‘I will kill you in seven different ways if I have to’ look that Danny hoped he was never on the end of. The gun was up, pointed directly at Sour Face. “Give me one damn reason I shouldn’t put a bullet between your eyes,” he snapped, eyes alive with righteous fury. 

Sour Face glared defiantly, keeping his arms down to his sides. “You don’t have the stones, Commander. You’re a friend to them, freaks of nature which shouldn’t exist. Man and animal should not coexist as one and the same,” he stated neutrally. 

“Steve, don’t,” Danny said, wincing at the slight lisp around his teeth. Now that the anger and adrenaline were starting to hold back, he felt his arm throbbing and clapped an arm over it. Again. Shot in the arm _again_ and he did not have superhealing powers. He was too busy using the hem of his t-shirt to wipe at the blood that he didn’t notice Sour Face’s movement until it was too late, the knife slipping loose from the sheath at his side, the lunge towards Danny, screaming about it being for the good of humanity.

With the crack of another gunshot, he dropped at Danny’s feet, absolutely still. Danny spun to Steve, who stared down coldly at the hunter. _SEAL Mode activate_ , Danny thought, stepping over Sour Face and heading over to Steve. “Hey, buddy,” he put his hands on his wrists, pushing the gun down. “You okay?”

Steve shrugged as he allowed the weapon to be lowered, calm gaze sliding over to Danny. Danny may have been the one sporting a few otherwordly features at the moment, but that look in his eyes, it made him very glad that Steve was on their side. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s get this called in. My leg hurts and I need a beer.” 

\--------------

“Imagine my surprise when I get a call from Tripler and find out that not one, but two of you ended up in the emergency room,” Chin stated dryly as he pushed aside the curtain, hands resting on his hips as he glared at the two men in the beds. “Two people who were supposed to be taking it easy like the rest of us on this wonderful Saturday.” 

Danny’s expression became apologetic as he took in Chin’s appearance, board shorts and a slightly damp t-shirt thrown on quickly after emerging from the water. “Babe, we so owe you. We didn’t want to call but liability blah blah blah,” he muttered, waving a hand in the air. “Apparently they think neither of us is in the right state of mind to drive or something, which I blame on Steve reassuring the doctor that we get shot all the time and we were just fine to do so.”

Steve was still settled back in his bed, a goofy grin on his face, a much different man from the one out on the hiking trail. “‘s all good, brother. All good.” Of course, the pain medication might have had something to do with that.

“Does ‘all good’ mean you have nothing to do with the new crime scene I was called about on my way here?” Chin added.

Danny froze and looked to Steve, Steve looking back at him. “We did that too,” Steve admitted too easily, nose wrinkling up slightly. “But they started it, okay? They stalked and attacked and it was not our faults, we just survived.” Danny held up a hand, pointing over to Steve, then winced as it pulled at the stitches in his arm. 

Chin pinched the bridge of his nose. “Well, Lou and Kono are already on their way out, so I am going to take you home and then join them.” 

Danny flung his arm up in the air, trying to hold another wince. “Look, I’m fine, I can go. The doctor didn’t say I had any restrictions, but we should definitely take Gunshot McG there home because it’s not good crime scene etiquette to giggle quite as much.” 

Steve snorted. “I don’t giggle,” he stated, just as the end of the sentence lapsed into quiet little giggles that brought a smile to Danny’s face. Yeah, Steve could get a little scary when he snapped into SEAL mode, but six years with Five-0 brought out the human in him once again. Sliding off the bed, Danny padded over to the wheelchair in the corner. 

“Gunshot McGiggles is more like it,” Chin muttered as he turned to disappear back out to the desk while Danny wrangled Steve into the chair. 

As Steve flopped down in the chair, Danny crouched down beside him. “You know, I should smack you for what you did. Never, under any circumstances, are you to sacrifice your life for mine, do you get that?” Danny asked, expression growing serious. “They may have mistaken you for a shifter, but that’s me. I take that burden.”

Steve gave him an exaggerated frown. “Better me than you, Danno. You got kids who depend on you, people.”

Danny scowled. “And you don’t? You’re not an uncle to my kids, huh? An adopted son to my mother? My brother? You’re not an older brother figure to Kono, a brother to Lou and Chin as well? You stupid, self-sacrificing putz. Your real family, with the exception of Mary Ann and Joanie and Deb, may have made you feel like you’re not worth much, but that is bullshit. Step back and look around you. You’ve got more family than most,” he lectured and stood up, going to stand behind Steve so he could push.

Steve grabbed his wrist, making him stop, and looked up. “It really is better than it’s me, Danny,” he said softly, the influence of the pain medication starting to wear off. 

“You are so wrong on that, Steve. I do have my kids, I have Kono, Chin, and Lou, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do anything for any of you in a heartbeat if it meant your happiness and wellbeing. That’s what family does,” Danny said quietly, then scowled when he realized that he’d inadvertently proved Steve somewhat right.

“You should be happy. All of you should be happy.”

“And so should you, Steve. Wo Fat is gone and help me, but if your mother stays gone, then you have a shot at a life free of the kind of drama they bring to it. You deserve that. Just don’t go throwing away the chance before you get there,” Danny replied softly, then leaned down to wrap his arms around him, hugging him tightly. Steve hugged him back, almost as if clinging about him, head resting against Danny’s chest.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Just don’t be so quick to die, Steve. Please.” 

The two of them stood like that for well over a minute. Then Danny slowly pulled away and returned to stand behind the wheelchair, beginning to push him along slowly. 

“I think I’d make a badass shifter though,” Steve murmured after a moment. Leaning down, Danny flicked his ear. 

“Don’t curse yourself, babe. It’s not as fun as you think it would be.”


	30. In Which Danny Strikes Back Against His Competition

When the smell of steak wafted into the house, Danny hopped off the couch and peered around the corner, making sure Steve still stood at the grill. His ears flicked forward, tail lightly brushing against the floor as he waited, watching, and made sure he was going to be a few minutes longer. As he suspected, Steve was deeply engrossed in the McGarrett Steak Methodology, so he turned and trotted towards the stairway, hopping up the stairs two at a time until he made the top landing and slid in the door to his bedroom. 

He was no slouch when it came to muscle tone, but as a fox, it was like the muscles in his legs were made of sinewy springs. The hop to the bed and then the distance to the dresser came easily and he turned in a slow circle, taking in the lay of the land. As he did, his tail brushed Steve’s badge right off onto the floor. The thing was a pain in the ass, the pain part only metaphorical, but in the ass very much literal. 

The next part took a little consideration, his head tilting as he took in the knobs and wondered how best to attack them. Granted, this would all be easier to tackle as a human, but as a human, Steve seemed to know what he was after and blocked him from it. This was the only way that he could get to it, which meant he would have to figure out how to wiggle open the drawer. With his teeth.

Bending down, he hooked his front legs over the edge and leaned down as far as he dared, grabbing the knob between his teeth on the right side. Then, with stubborn determination, he wiggled, pulled, wiggled, pulled. As time passed, he started to wonder if it wasn’t going to budge (it would be his luck that it didn’t), when it finally did and scooted out enough for him to get his nose in and nudge it open just enough to get a glimpse of his quarry.

Danny snagged the ear of the fox stuffed animal between his teeth and landed back on the bed with an easy leap and a smug chirp muffled by the fluff between his teeth. Head up, he leapt back to the floor, head up and ears perked as he slid back out into the hallway and down the stairs. 

Where Steve stood, spatula in one hand, plate full of cooked meat in the other, mouth open as he was about to call Danny. Instead, his eyes narrowed and he shook the spatula at Danny. “Uh uh, no, bad fox. Just because you don’t like to share doesn’t mean you’re allowed to get rid of our buddy. Lou will be crushed,” he stated. 

Danny made a snorting sound and whirled around, paws skittering on the hard floor as he bolted away from Steve, gathering speed. He heard Steve head for the kitchen long enough to set the plate down, then there was a tall, goofy human coming after him. “Danny, put it down!” Steve told him, leaning down to take a swipe and while feeling a little high on his success, Danny swept between his legs and took off in the other direction.

Steve awkwardly reversed just in time for him to squeeze behind the couch. “I’m starting to think an actual fox got into my house and it’s an asshole,” he stated, standing at the edge of the couch before he began to pull it away from the wall. 

Sighing, Danny squeezed out the other end before the gap grew too small. While he was stubborn, Steve was just as much so and it wasn’t so much the stuffed fox as the joy he got out of teasing Danny with it. It wasn’t as if Danny truly had anything against the fox either, but the joy he got out of taunting Steve with it who wasn’t done teasing him seemed to be on even level with Steve’s joy. It was a stalemate of joy.

He felt the brush of fingers around his tail, darted behind the entertainment system. However, on his way out, his back foot became entangled and he dropped the toy, pitching forward out the other side. “Ha!” Steve quickly scooped him up and Danny launched into wiggling and chirping at him, demanding to be put down. Steve, however, held him at arm’s level with a deadpan expression. “You done yet or are you going to go until you get tired, huh?”

He tucked him under an arm and then tried to reach the toy. Failing that side, he went around to the other and came up short again. “You are really an ass, foxy,” he muttered, leaning against the wall and settling Danny in his lap. “What do you have against your twin, huh? He’s a good guy.”

Danny’s ears flattened against his skull and he made a soft _haaaa_ sound, then resumed panting. Steve’s joking annoyance immediately lifted and he gave him a soft grin, pulling him close. “All right, how about we reach an agreement? If you get it out from behind there, we’ll give it to Charlie, okay? He liked the movie.” Danny peered up at him, head tilting questioningly. He hadn’t been _that_ annoyed. He understood the joke behind it, he just wanted to play. 

Slipping loose of Steve’s arms, he slid between the entertainment center and returned, setting it in Steve’s lap. Then he pushed his paw against his arm. _You keep._ To reinforce, he pushed his nose against his arm and Steve snorted. “You are way too easy.” Suddenly, he was on his feet and running through the house, out of the living room before Danny just realized he’d been had. He yelped sharply and started off after Steve. 

\--------

Steve moved through headquarters with purpose, cup of coffee in one hand and file in the other. The others weren’t in yet and the silence leant itself to getting some administrative paperwork done. Being his least favorite thing, he found other things to do while the others were in house, burying it under other things on his desk or under the dying houseplant sitting on the printer in the corner. 

He pushed open the door to his office, stopping dead as he took in the sight waiting for him on his desk. There were five of them, five foxes, all wearing different things. As Steve moved closer, picking up the first one, he threw his head back and laughed: it was wearing blue and white camo. The fox next to it wore a less tropically themed button up and tie, black dress pants. The next, a flower print shirt and blue pants. The last two wore a tank top and pants and fabric boots and a button up shirt and tan pants. It was the Five-0 team. 

Picking each one up in turn and studying it, Steve’s grin grew bigger. “So I take it that you like them, huh?” Danny asked from behind him, arms crossing as he leaned against the doorframe. 

“It’s going to look really weird if people see me with all these stuffed animals, Danny,” Steve replied, turning to wave the Navy fox at him. “ _I_ even think it looks weird. The first one was a running joke.” 

“Hey,” Danny said, reaching up to grab the fox and fixing its uniform, “this was actually Grace’s idea and project, which means it is a gift that you can put on display. If people think it’s strange, you can set them straight,” he added casually, sauntering over to set the fox on Steve’s windowsill. Gathering up the other four in his arms, he returned to settle them next to their boss, then stood back with his hands on his hips, nodding approvingly at his work.

When he turned back to Steve, he found the other man watching him with a soft smile. “The Five-0 Skulk, huh?” he said quietly, his gaze sliding over to the windowsill and the gathered team. Danny nodded slowly and stepped back beside him, patting a hand on his chest.

“The Five-0 Skulk, I like that,” he said thoughtfully. “You know that I was, uh, just playing a few nights ago, right? I can take a joke and I was feeling frisky, so I was going to make you play chase for a while. That’s all.”

Steve slung an arm over his shoulder. “Oh, I know. Just like I left that fox on your backseat for Charlie to find last night,” he said. Hearing that, Danny’s apprehension eased and he shook his head, elbowing Steve’s side gently. 

“Look at this, we got a family going on,” Chin stated from behind them, stepping through Steve’s open door as he eyed the foxes lined up on the windowsill. 

“Grace did them,” Danny explained, puffing up slightly with pride, waving to them. “The whole family. Take a look, see if you approve.”

Chin shook his head, but he still picked his up to give it a closer look. “I already approved without seeing him up close. Gracie is very talented and this is...appropriate. And hilarious.” 

Steve spread his hands. “Right? Five-0 Skulk. We never had a mascot up until now, but I’m thinking it’s about time.” Abruptly, Chin and Steve locked eyes, then pointed at Danny at the same time. “Jersey,” they stated in unison. 

Danny quietly regarded them, arms crossed. Then he sighed and turned to walk out of the office. “Children. I work with children.”


	31. In Which Jersey Goes To School

“Danny, for being what you are, you are being incredibly narrow minded,” Kono stated, twirling her stir stick around in her coffee before she took a drink, wrinkled up her nose, and added more milk. “There is way, way more going on in this world than what we’re aware of. You’re living proof of that.” She shook the stick at him, little droplets splattering across the countertop as she did. “I’d also like to point out that before you became a werefox, you didn’t even know shifters existed.”

Danny scowled at her over the rim of his cup. “And now I do. Look, there are only two things that I allow suspension of belief for and that’s shifters and ghosts. That’s it. Things I have experienced.” Honestly, he still had nightmares about the nice apartment he’d given up in order to get away from a haunted hot spot. Mainly, he had nightmares about giving up the apartment, but there was a chill that made him shy away from any place where ghosts may have been. 

“Just because you haven’t experienced them doesn’t mean that they’re not out there.” Kono strode away from the counter and Danny fell in step beside her, sipping at his coffee thoughtfully. “Wouldn’t it make sense if others kept their distance anyway? Less likely that someone is going to out you to save their own bacon.”

He frowned at the floor as they walked back towards main headquarters. “I’d say that would never happen, but the cynic that smothered any positivity in me over the last several years says that you’re all too right. Still, I honestly doubt that vampires exist, Kono,” he added, running a hand through his hair. “I mean, for one, I think I would smell the walking dead-”

“ _Undead_.”

“- _undead_ if they came anywhere close. You know, rot or something.” 

“They’re eternally young, Danny, not zombies. Blood keeps them fresh, so there would be no rot to smell.”

“Kono, there would be something to smell, all right? But hey, maybe you’re right.” Danny grabbed the door handle to pull it open for Kono, allowing her to step in first. “Maybe that would explain Steve and his Rambotastic ways.” 

“What would explain my Rambotastic ways?” Steve asked, appearing behind the both of them and making Danny jump, part of his coffee sloshing over onto his slacks and loafers. He scowled and wiped at it, turning to glare at Steve. 

“You being a member of the undead,” Danny stated, waiting for the mildly annoyed look to appear on Steve’s face, but instead he gave both of them a considering look, smirked lightly, and stepped between them to keep walking towards where Chin and Lou were bent over the table, heatedly discussing draft choices for...shit, Danny had forgotten which sport was up this time. His free time to keep up with ESPN was dwindling lately. 

Kono frowned slightly, pointing in Steve’s direction. “Do you think he’s just - “

“Of course he is. That’s how Steve operates. He has a face and he uses it,” Danny chimed in immediately, but it didn’t stop him from shooting his partner a look. 

“Okay, guys, bring it in. I just got done talking to the governor and we have some, ah, business to discuss,” Steve called, clapping his hands sharply as if drawing students in from recess and taking his place at the head of the table. As Danny sidled up beside him, he leaned in close and sniffed at Steve’s arm, which earned him a strange look from his partner. Casually as he could, Danny feigned taking a sip of coffee and shifted over to stand beside Kono, her expression slightly amused. 

“...all right then,” Steve added, then shook his head. “So, here’s the thing. One of the local schools is hosting what they’re calling the first annual Innovation Week to get students interested in and expose them to sciences from engineering and architecture to psychology, things like that. Introduce them to fields in which creativity and the sciences come together to create and help. Given our, uh…” Steve rubbed the back of his neck. “Newly created DIA program, he wanted us to talk to one of the classes.” 

Danny gagged on his coffee, Lou helpfully thumping him on the back. Using his shirt sleeve to clean the little droplets off the table’s edge, Danny stared at Steve. “The program you made up to explain why there was a fox - me - running around headquarters?” he demanded, his voice rising slightly. “A program that doesn’t even exist?” Unless Steve had been telling the truth and the military really was running a fledgling Dedicated Infiltration Animal program, there was no basis at all. 

“Also, the one that explains why I bought a few hundred dollars worth of gear for Jersey,” Steve added helpfully, then quickly held up his hands. “Look, the program may not be real, but you have to admit that your wild side could be helpful in the field, Danny. It doesn’t hurt to be prepared and if this will soothe Denning wondering if the money is going to the right place, this will be it. It’s a few minutes in a classroom,” he stated, spreading his hands out. “What could go wrong?” 

Chin reached out to knock on Steve’s head. “That’s exactly when things go wrong, but don’t worry. I have you covered,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.

\-----------

“So remind me again how we were the ones that ended up doing this?” Chin asked, leaning back in the passenger side seat of Steve’s Silverado, eyeing the school in front of them. Steve slipped his sunglasses off and placed them in the cupholder, twisting his wrist to check his watch.

“Lou and Kono volunteered to take babysitting the CI duty before we could utter a word, that’s how,” Steve groused. “Well, that’s it for you. Denning made it clear that my appearance here was mandatory as head of Five-0.” 

In the backseat, Danny slumped down, arms firmly crossed over his chest. “And I get to play Jersey.” He nudged the back of Steve’s seat hard, earning a swipe back at his knee. “I hate you.” 

Steve twisted to look at him. “And here I thought we were working on the self-acceptance of the foxy side that makes you say such negative things,” he said, the corner of his mouth quirking up in a smile. He reached out to ruffle Danny’s hair, hand pulling back before Danny could land a blow on his arm. “Now hurry up and shift. We only have a few minutes before we’re supposed to sign in.” 

With a scowl, Danny lay down on the backseat and started slowly, awkwardly removing his clothes as Chin gestured to the truck. “Was that the whole point of bringing this thing? More space in the back?” Steve nodded slowly, pulling a pack of gum out of his pocket and offering Chin a piece. It was declined with a small shake of the head.

“So thoughtful,” came the muffled response from the backseat and Danny’s shirt flew out to cover Steve’s head. 

“Hey, less complaining, more getting furry,” Steve told him.

“How about more you shut it and let me do my thing without hurrying me along or I’m going to -”

The remark was just enough to make Steve and Chin unconsciously turn around, Steve to challenge him and Chin to watch what would no doubt be hilarity go down, not realizing that Danny was in a state of being entirely undressed. “ _Hey, whoa!_ Everyone face forward!” he bellowed, hands flying up to block their line of vision.

Steve and Chin spun around, expressions both wholly surprised. A moment of silence passed between all of them, before Steve finally ventured, “Danny, do you really have a…?”

“ _Yes._ And you are never going to mention my stupid teenager rebellion phase choices again, do you hear me?” To emphasize his point, he threw his pants at Steve, who caught them and blinked a few times, glancing back at Chin.

“I told you,” Chin said, shoulders rising in a shrug. “People that tight laced, they have a wild side you can’t even begin to guess at.”

\--------

As it turned out, Steve had gone all out when it came to decking Jersey out in Five-0 gear. The vest fit just right around Danny’s chest and upper body, _Five-0_ inscribed in white up his spine against the black of the kevlar. Chin slipped the collar around his neck, then clipped the leash on, allowing him to hop out of the truck onto the pavement. With Steve hauling the equipment, they entered the school. 

The secretary was absolutely thrilled to see him, crouching down to rub her hands all over his head. Danny muttered under his breath in annoyance, ears flattening against his skull, which she took to be contentment at her attention. Chin finally had to save him while Steve received the directions, scooping him up and letting Danny scamper up onto his shoulder to curl around his neck.

Strangely, Danny enjoyed nestling there while in fox form. “What kind of dog did you say he was again?” the secretary asked, giving Jersey a little bit of a side eye.

“Husky, a little bit of German shepherd and labrador retriever, terrier,” Chin replied with an amicable smile. “The fluff and the eyes are especially husky, don’t you think?” He made a show of stroking Danny’s fluffy tail, which curled around his neck in response, Danny still eyeing the woman warily. 

The suspicious look became an easy smile, no doubt in large part to Chin’s ability to charm. “I see it now. He’s adorable.” To that, Danny protested. Loudly.

“Hey, be nice,” Steve admonished, gently tapping a finger under Danny’s chin. Danny opened his mouth slightly and made an aborted movement to nip at the finger, to which Steve tapped his nose. “Nice,” he echoed, then nudged Chin and motioned for him to follow. The secretary got one last pet in, much to Danny’s dismay. As much as he could enjoy it, _permission_. It was such a lost art.

\-----------

“The program is relatively new,” Steve explained as he strolled in front of the class, hands waving in a way that seemed like he’d been exposed to Danny for too long and too often. “In fact, Five-0 is one of the first civilian testing grounds. It’s called DIA, Dedicated Infiltration Animal program, and the point is to train these dogs to the point they can get in through small places to give us a better idea of what we’re facing through portable sound and visual equipment. Jersey is taught to respond to basic commands over a headset and their instinct is to stay out of sight, resulting in information that could save lives before entering into the unknown.”

Even Danny had to admit that Steve’s explanation sounded pretty damn good, wondering if there wasn’t some merit to it. It all came down to animal capability though; while it would work with Danny, it was because he had a human mind onboard, while most animals wouldn’t. It made commands easier to understand and quicker, better response times to when things went south.

He lay in a patch of sunlight filtering in from one of the windows, Chin sitting beside him in a chair. Danny’s head lay on his boot, the smell of oil and exhaust just under his nose from Chin’s daily commute in on his bike. So far, so boring. He’d done nothing but lay around while a few of the kids glanced his way curiously. 

“Okay.” There was that hand clap from Steve again. “Who wants to see a demonstration?” Immediately, half-bored expressions became much more interested as Steve bent down to scoop Danny up. While he held him, Chin went about fitting him with the (rigged, since the program didn’t exist) equipment. The laptop Chin hooked up to the TV earlier came online, Danny’s camera picking up the class, who hooted and waved at themselves on the TV. 

Chin fitted Danny’s own tactical earpiece around his ear, somehow managing to get it to settle inside. “That okay?” he asked. Danny chirped quietly in reply, then struggled slightly in Steve’s grasp. _Can we get this done and over with?_ His paws touched the floor and he trotted over to the door, looking up expectantly. Chin pulled it open and he slipped out into the empty hallways.

“Left. Right. Right. That’s a good boy, Jersey,” Steve instructed over the earpiece, Danny slowly making his way through the school. Until he found someone. He heard a faint pause as Steve recognized the man as well. Bennett, the science teacher who threatened to flunk Grace for being bored and unchallenged in his class. He and Danny had gone head to head on several occasions, leaving him annoyed to the point of blowing a gasket once he returned to the office, full blown rants giving way to exhausted mutterings. 

Then: “Follow.” He heard the soft laughter from the kids. The guy wasn’t a favorite of anyone, too strict and full of himself, expecting the kids to meet his rigid instructions without room for differences. Danny hunkered down, creeping after him. After a few steps, Bennett must have felt a sixth sense kick in and turned. Danny quickly slunk behind a row of lockers, waiting until he continued on, then slid back out, silently following after him. 

He could almost hear the grin in Steve’s voice when he got up on Bennett’s heels. “Speak, Jersey.” The yip came out loud and sharp, Bennett reacting in surprise and spinning around. “We’d like to thank Mr. Bennett for being a willing volunteer for us today,” Steve continued on, making it sound as if it had been planned all along. While it may have been funny for the kids, they still needed to respect him - Danny didn’t have that problem. 

Danny turned sharply and rushed back down the hall, leaving the confounded science teacher trying to make sense of what happened, retracing his steps until he squeezed back in the open door and into Chin’s arms. Still wired up, he resettled in his spot around Chin’s neck quietly as Steve continued to speak, arms raising from the now thoroughly interested students wanting to know more about the program.

As they left the school, there was a slight bounce to Steve’s step. “Maybe there is something there after all. Danny isn’t a good measurement, given the human instincts and intelligence, but animals are smart. Maybe there could be something done with it,” he said thoughtfully. Danny chirped and hopped the small distance from Chin’s shoulder to Steve’s, almost falling off until he settled over his shoulder, back feet braced against Steve’s back shoulder. Steve reached up to pet him. 

“See, buddy? Something good might come out of this situation of yours after all.”


	32. In Which Food Is Really Danny's Favorite Thing

Grace tried to give him her lunch. More accurately, she left her sandwich in the passenger seat when she headed for the school, hoping he wouldn’t notice. When he called to her to come get it, she said it was for him because she’d overheard Rachel telling Step Stan that Danny had become rather skinny as of late. Well, that wasn’t going to stand. Danny made sure the sandwich went back into her backpack and then shooed her inside before she was late. 

The thing was, Rachel wasn’t wrong. It didn’t take Danny’s excellent detective skills to realize that his weight had dropped considerably since his arrival in Hawaii, not with the way he’d notched up his belt a few times. He was exhausted more often than not but it was the shifter stamina that kept him going at the pace of the average human. He thought he’d done a damn good job of hiding it, but apparently not if his ex was expressing her concern to her new husband. New-ish. 

Danny scowled and pulled a protein bar out of the glove box before he locked up and treked towards HPD. It was slightly warped, melted and hardened again from the fluctuating temperature within the car. He bit off a mouthful of chocolate and peanut butter a little harder than necessary. 

Since he’d found out there was something a little more than usual going on after being bitten, his body had gone through various changes, appetite being a major one. Cravings for raw meats and vegetables weren’t just wants, they were necessities, but unfortunately he was just barely staying above the red line in his checking account while making sure he paid all his bills and tried to give Grace everything she could need. Increasing his groceries per a week to satisfy his speedy metabolism didn’t make it high on the priority list. 

Balling up the wrapper, he tossed it into the garbage can on his way to his desk, but a thought struck and he slowed, stopped, glanced around and discreetly backed towards the break room situated just down the hall. Poking his head in, he made sure no one was around before making a beeline straight for the fridge. If there was one thing that seemed to be the same across precincts, it was forgotten leftovers that were doomed to mold in the back of the fridge.

Unless someone rescued them.

Tugging open the door, Danny gazed at the various containers and Tupperware stacked and labeled on the shelves, reaching in to push aside this and that. Slowly, a stack began to form at his feet, things that his sensitive nose told him were teetering on the precipice of going bad, that had the distinct scent of sitting in the fridge for longer than they needed to, even a few things that were a little on the wrong side, but palatable. He was a desperate werefox all right. 

He kicked the door shut and moved the pile to the counter, quickly claiming a plastic fork from one of the boxes and digging in. It made for a rather unique buffet, but it all disappeared quickly, Danny’s stomach starting to unclench in relief, the hunger he’d been living with becoming obvious as it disappeared. He closed his eyes and leaned back, head tilted up as he chewed, the sound he made almost orgasmic. If he thought too hard about it, it was pretty pathetic that food that close to bad was making him that happy. 

The empty containers went into the garbage can and he buried it beneath other wrappers and boxes, keeping them from becoming immediately apparent. His stomach pleased for once, his mood lifted slightly and he found himself whistling as he headed for his desk and the pile of paperwork sitting on top. 

\-------------

“Danny? Are you all right?” Meka’s brow furrowed in concern as his partner leaned against the side of the building, bent forward and arms wrapped around his stomach. 

“I think I’m dying,” Danny muttered, though it wasn’t in him to lend it the necessary dramatics to really get it across. His stomach heaved and his cheeks puffed out as he fought back the wave of nausea that threatened to expel his acquired meal all over the pavement. The chicken. It had to be the chicken. He knew it smelled a little funky but not enough for him to worry about, at least at the time. Letting out another burp, he followed it with a groan. “Never mix lo mein noodles with cheesecake. It just ends in heartbreak.”

\------------

“That’s five. He’s on his fifth hamburger,” Lou stated in complete awe, watching as Danny took a large bite out his meal, leaning back and chewing happily. “How does something that small eat that much?” 

One eye opened, fixing him with an annoyed look. One finger shot up. “First of all, not small just because I fall a few inches short of you Sasquatches,” he said, pointing the finger back and forth between Lou and Steve. “Second of all, I have a special condition wherein I speed digest thanks to an amped up metabolism. Shifting to an animal and back takes a lot of energy.” 

“He also eats raw meat,” Steve added in, kicking up his feet on an empty chair as he considered his sushi, chopsticks clacking thoughtfully. “The raw meat that occasionally disappears from my freezer.”

Danny tilted his head in reluctant agreement while Lou’s nose wrinkled up. “You call him an animal and all this time, you’re part yourself.” 

“Takes one to know one,” Steve chirped helpfully and popped his selected piece of sushi in his mouth. Danny picked up a crumpled piece of paper and threw it across the table at him, Steve catching it easily and whipping it back at him, Danny quickly ducking to the side. 

“There’s animal and then there’s _animal_ , animal,” Danny drawled around a mouthful of burger, then pointed at Kono sitting beside him. “Besides, she puts me to shame by not having the special metabolism and keeping it off.” He held up his hand, which Kono high-fived.

“Surfing in the morning, cardio, work, strength training a few times a week, and more surfing. It’s necessary,” Kono said proudly, reaching over to snatch a few of Danny’s fries. He made a mocking teeth snapping motion at her, then grinned. She wrinkled up her nose playfully, wiggled her fingers at him, then started in on his side, looking for the ticklish spot. 

“I hate both of you the same then,” Lou mumbled as he reached across the table to pull the fries towards him while Kono and Danny continued to play wrestle at the table. Steve waved his chopsticks in the air. 

“Commiserating with you, right here,” he stated, leaning over to fist bump Lou. “But at least we don’t eat raw meat, right?” 

“Hey!” Danny growled, holding Kono at bay while he shot Steve a look. “I’ll replace the steaks, all right? Will that make you happy and get you to shut up?”

Steve’s eyes narrowed consideringly. “Throw in a pack of Longboards and I’ll turn a blind eye the next time you feel like sleep eating.” 

“Deal,” Danny said quickly, throwing another balled up piece of wax paper at Steve, this one hitting him between the eyes. “Now, where did my fries go?”


	33. In Which Steve Tries To Catch A Dannovee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I last updated and I do miss writing werefox!Danny a lot. In lieu of being able to write, I've been spring cleaning my writing folders and found this little snippet. While short, I still kind of like the picture it conjures up of Uncle Steve and Charlie. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few more chapters out or a longer fic in the Outfoxed 'verse at some point.
> 
> (And this note was probably longer than the update itself.)

Taking advantage of the quiet office, Danny buried himself in paperwork, determined to get it done before the full moon rendered him a useless furball for the night. Except, as he headed over to the coffee machine for another cup, something rolled across the floor and tapped his shoe. Glancing down, Danny found a small white and red ball.

And a grinning Steve a few feet away, phone held up.

“I promised Charlie that I would catch him an Eevee,” Steve explained, “but I haven’t had much luck until now.” As Danny bent down to pick up the ball, Steve shrugged a shoulder. “I figured a Dannovee would be not only close, but a step up. So I choose you.”

The plastic ball pegged him right between the eyes, the werefox marching past him and grumbling as he drank from his mug. “Go do some actual work, Squirtle.” He stopped in the doorway to his office, sighed, and turned to face Steve. 

“And Grace has about eight by now. Everytime she’s around me, she ends up with a new one. I think that damn game knows too much.”


	34. In Which Danny Still Hates Skydiving

He felt like he couldn’t breathe. Curled up tight, limbs immobile, Danny stayed utterly still in the darkness, trying to focus on his breath instead of his surroundings. It was near impossible when just the small action of moving his head bumped against canvas or cloth. His muscles were tense to the point of aching and he just wanted _out_. The lesser of two evils, his furry ass. 

The landing came with a thud that lightly vibrated through the pack, followed by a tumble that made him feel like he was standing on his head. Instead of waiting, he started to nose at the opening, desperate for a fresh breeze, a peek at sunlight. His wish was soon granted, the clasp on the pack being undone, and Danny bolted past a surprised Steve so fast that his legs tangled and he landed in a heap, nose stuffed into wet soil and grass unceremoniously. 

“...oh.” He struggled up to something resembling a sitting position, tongue lolling out of his mouth as he panted in the humid air. As much as he would have liked to go with the inhale and exhale routine, it didn’t work as a fox and if he wanted to catch his breath again, he was stuck looking like an open-mouthed idiot. Of course. Close by, Steve pushed up his goggles and unhooked the pack from his chest, frowning. “I guess claustrophobia doesn’t disappear when you’re smaller,” he muttered. 

Danny grumbled quietly, finally getting off his rear to slink over and stick his nose in the bag. His clothing, his boots, his service revolver, all tucked away in the bottom still. He nipped at the edge of the shirt and started to pull until Steve swatted at his nose. “I got it, I got it. Do you actually lose patience when you shrink?”

Just as they’d worked out before, Steve pulled him back by his hindquarters, earning an annoyed squawk from Danny and a sharp nip at his fingers to watch himself. Steve only lightly flicked his nose in return. “If I have to handle your boxers, you can deal with it,” he replied, fishing just that out of the bag. This was the worst part, after being stuck in that pack, Steve dressing him like a small child not yet capable of the coordination necessary. 

Unlike every movie out there where the person transforming into the beast tore their clothing into shreds during the shift, Danny grew smaller and therefore dropped his all around. In the opposite direction, he’d learned how to fill out his clothing when he shifted back, which meant he didn’t end up entirely nude off the bat - as long as there was someone with him. 

There were worse choices but still, Steve was picking up his hind legs and slipping them through the leg holes of his boxers, brow furrowing in confusion as he tried to work out what to do with the bushy tail. Danny turned to glare at him, but Steve ignored him, finally pushing the tail down into one the holes with his leg. 

“You know, these aren’t that much bigger on you than they usually are.” Steve’s eyes were bright with amusement and Danny’s ears flattened. They gave each other grief, all the time, but there was something extremely unfair about being able to make a rebuttal. He couldn’t even lift a leg as if about to mark Steve, not when there were two layers of clothing between them. “C’mon, Danny, it’s a little funny. This reminds me of when Mary Ann would have tea parties and she’d rope me into helping her dress her dolls for them.”

Danny paused, conjuring up the mental age of a tall, gangly, teenage Steve sitting in a chair way too small for him, dressing a doll. Frowning, tongue stuck out the side of his mouth in deep concentration, making sure each bow was straight with military precision - or holding it upside down by one leg and tugging a pair of bloomers on. Pre-military Steve, it could have gone either way. Still, the image earned a quiet chitter that doubled as a laugh as Steve tugged his paw through the last sleeve.

“All right, you can do your thing now, Foxy.” Rising to his feet, Steve started to unhook the various lines and packs from the parachute jump and their supplies, failing to notice Danny staring at him until a few beats later. “What?”

Danny moved his snout in a circle, indicating that Steve needed to turn around. Steve held out his hands. “You’re dressed! It’s not like I’ll see anything - “ Aggravated, Danny made another sharp circle in the air, making Steve sigh. “Fine. It’s a good thing you never joined the Navy.” He turned his back to Danny, dropping another pack on the ground.

“...good thing, because I probably would have thrown myself off the ship having to deal with being ordered around all the time.” The myriad of fox sounds became human words as he shifted and his vocal chords changed. The popping of joints into place and the reshaping of bone and muscle still made him wince, but a little practice had made the transition smoother than it once was. He ran his hands through his hair, trying to make it lay flat again. 

Steve shot him a droll look over his shoulder. “Violation of dress code, for one. You look like a model that got lost in the wild for a few days.” 

“Better than utterly naked in the middle of nowhere - aww, you think I’m model pretty?” Danny grinned at him, fluttering a hand in front of his face. “Well, I do declare, Steven McGarrett. You know how to flatter a man.”

Finally zipping the bag shut and rising to his feet, Steve rolled his eyes as he marched past Danny towards the woods. “I meant a model for a headache medication ad. You know, the kind I have to use on a regular basis when dealing with you.” 

Danny turned to jog after him, slipping the holster on his belt as he did so. After being stuck in a bag, going through with Steve’s crazy plan, he wasn’t getting out of it that easy, not at all.

“You think I’m pretty, you think I’m gorgeous...you think I’m a _fox_.” A moment of silence fell between them, boots crunching through underbrush, before Steve and Danny both burst out into quiet laughter, Danny’s self-deprecating while Steve shook his head. 

“Yeah, Danno, you’re a real _fox_ all right.”


End file.
